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The Zookeeper’s Wife

A Film by Niki Caro

Production Notes

The Zookeeper’s Wife

Synopsis

Two-time Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain stars in The Zookeeper’s Wife in the title role of Antonina Żabińska, a real-life working wife and mother who became a hero to hundreds during WWII. Niki Caro (Whale Rider, North Country) directs the movie from a screenplay by Angela Workman, adapted from Diane Ackerman’s nonfiction book of the same name which was based on Antonina’s diaries.

The time is 1939. The place is Poland, homeland of Antonina (portrayed by Ms. Chastain) and her husband, Dr. Jan Żabiński (Johan Heldenbergh, of The Broken Circle Breakdown). Devoted to each other, the couple thrive as personal and professional partners; the Warsaw Zoo flourishes under Jan’s stewardship and Antonina’s care. With reserves of energy, Antonina rises every day to tend to both her family and their menagerie, as the gates to the majestic zoo open in welcome…

…until the entrance is slammed shut and the zoo is crippled in an attack as the entire country is invaded by the Germans. Stunned, the couple is forced to report to the Reich’s newly appointed chief zoologist, Lutz Heck (Golden Globe Award nominee Daniel Brühl of Captain America: Civil War). Heck envisions a new, selective breeding program for the zoo.

Antonina and Jan fight back on their own terms, and covertly begin working with the Resistance – realizing that their zoo’s abandoned animal cages and underground tunnels, originally designed to safeguard animal life, can now secretly safeguard human life. As the couple puts into action plans to save lives out of what has become the Warsaw Ghetto, Antonina places herself and even her children at great risk.

A Scion Films production, an Electric City Entertainment, Tollin Productions and Rowe Miller Productions production. A Film by Niki Caro. Jessica Chastain. The Zookeeper’s Wife. Johan Heldenbergh, Michael McElhatton, and Daniel Brühl. Casting by Elaine Grainger, Maya Kvetny. Music by Harry Gregson-Williams. Costume Designer, Sabine Daigeler. Make-up and Hair Designer, Denise Kum. Editor, David Coulson. Production Designer, Suzie Davies. Cinematographer, Andrij Parekh. Executive Producers, Marc Butan, Robbie Rowe Tollin, Mike Tollin, Jessica Chastain, Kevan Van Thompson, Mickey Liddell, Pete Shilaimon, Jennifer Monroe. Produced by Jeff Abberley, p.g.a., Jamie Patricof, p.g.a., Diane Miller Levin, p.g.a., Kim Zubick, p.g.a. Based on the Book by Diane Ackerman. Written by Angela Workman. Directed by Niki Caro.

The Zookeeper’s Wife

About the Production

The Zookeeper’s Wife is a film written and directed by women, about an unheralded female heroine. The project made it to the big screen after a decade as all concerned took inspiration from the real-life woman whose story they would be telling.

In 2007, producer Diane Miller Levin was given Diane Ackerman’s book The Zookeeper’s Wife, as a gift by her husband. Levin was so enthralled with the recounting of strength of character that she read the book in just one night, “sitting on my stairwell. I was utterly struck by it. It felt like too important a story not to tell.” Her producing partner, Emmy Award winner Robbie Rowe Tollin, read the book and was equally inspired by it. Together, they formed Rowe Miller Productions with a commitment to see the book adapted into a major motion picture.

Ackerman’s nonfiction book drew on the wartime diaries of Antonina Żabińska while also providing in-depth research to place Antonina and her husband, Dr. Jan Żabiński, in the wider historical context of Polish resistance to Nazi oppression during WWII.

Robbie Rowe Tollin states, “What sets this apart from other WWII histories is that it is an intimate story between a husband and wife. We were fascinated at how it was about a family fighting to keep their everyday life, and marriage, healthy amidst a war.”

The State of Israel would later honor the Żabińskis as Righteous Among the Nations, but the couple remained modest about their achievements. Yet they had exemplified courage and compassion, sheltering over 300 people at their beloved Warsaw Zoo, which had sustained damage during Germany’s invasion of Poland, keeping these guests safe and surviving the Holocaust; saved from the Warsaw Ghetto, the rescuees were later sent on escape routes to freedom. A small number of their guests are still alive today.

Levin comments, “This story celebrates life in all forms. Diane Ackerman showed us a world where humans, animals, the spirit of all living things, are valued. Specifically, it’s about the heroism of a woman living in a time of unmitigated fear and destruction. Antonina’s instincts were both scientific and spiritual, truly a rare combination. She knew how to spot a predator and how to defuse their aggression, but she also knew how to tend to a wounded animal and how to heal them. Overcoming her natural shyness, she applied her innate understanding of animal psychology to humans, and so was able to help even the most damaged escapees to heal and feel hope for the future.

“Robbie and I were floored at how Antonina answered a call to action and accepted so many challenges: hiding people in abandoned animal cages and underground tunnels, sacrificing to feed the guests and bolstering their spirits with music – all the while putting her life and the lives of her children on the line.  We were moved by how Antonina and Jan fought against hate and for survival, no matter the cost to themselves. The book eloquently depicts their bravery, and we wanted to translate that into a film.”

The duo brought The Zookeeper’s Wife to the attention of Mike Tollin, an Emmy and Peabody Award winner with an accomplished track record of making movies about real-life heroes. He optioned the book for a partnership between his Tollin Productions and their Rowe Miller Productions. He comments, “The book was a revelation. The chance to tell such an incredibly powerful and largely unknown story seemed like the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Producer Kim Zubick, at that time President of Production at Tollin Productions, rounded out the quartet as they worked at selecting a screenwriter and developing the adaptation. Zubick remarks, “I felt in my soul that Antonina’s story needed to be told. Wars are not just fought on the front lines; here was someone battling to hold on to what is good in people. Her story could inspire all of us to do the same.

“I knew we needed to find the right voice to tell Antonina’s story, and it was immediately clear that this person was Angela Workman, our screenwriter. Angela brought her own passion to the table; it was on the strength of her faith in the material and in our collaboration that she came up with a powerful treatment, which gave us a strong foundation to build from.”

Workman notes, “As a writer, so much of this story surprised me; there were so many things I didn’t know. There was an ‘underground railroad’ in Warsaw. There was an extraordinary effort by Gentiles to get people out of the Ghetto. The zoo became a way station in that effort; Jews were hidden inside the cages, in the underground animal tunnels, and inside the Żabiński house itself. This was an intensely dangerous act because German soldiers swarmed all over that zoo; their armaments were housed there – and in occupied Poland the punishment for hiding Jews was death to the rescuer and to his/her family. Antonina and Jan could have fled, but instead they made the decision to stay, to save lives, right under the noses of the Nazis.

“A zoo setting for these acts of courage is unusual, and beautifully cinematic. But it also makes us think about the idea of animal instincts, human and non-human. Who are the beasts, really? Life in a zoo illuminates the core idea of how Hitler would ultimately be defeated: you can’t control nature. The world turns forward, nature survives. Animal life survives. It will outlive a despot.”

Robbie Rowe Tollin says, “All four of us felt that Angela was a master at historical adaptations. What we found was that she was equally passionate about Antonina’s character and the material.”

Levin reports, “Angela wrangled so many facts and details. She centralized the story with imagery while also making it come alive through the beauty of her words.

“Over this past decade we developed amazing partnerships, as it truly does take a village to make a movie.”

Producer Jeff Abberley acquired the rights to the project in late 2009 through his Scion Films banner, having been introduced to it by Workman’s agent Sandra Lucchesi, who became something of a “fairy godmother” to the project. He muses, “We had developed something of a reputation for helping to get some very complex projects made over the years, and instinctively I immediately knew that we could bring this wonderful project to the screen. Any movie is difficult to make. But a female-driven drama set against the Holocaust was too great to pass up. Here was a chance to tell an inspiring true story – about a family that extends itself further and further, both in risk and embrace.

“I only had two conditions before taking the project on: first, Angela had to write it, and second, we had to get the cooperation of the surviving children, Rys and Teresa. It took six months of careful negotiation but that was worth it.”

He adds, “From the very first meeting with director Niki Caro, it was abundantly clear that she knew exactly how to make this movie. She understood what was important in the telling of Antonina and Jan’s story, and what was less relevant. The confidence that she had from the outset emboldened all of us. Her mastery of storytelling and the lyricism in her approach – not least with children and animals – mapped out the emotional heart of The Zookeeper’s Wife.”

Zubick notes, “One of the first things Niki said was, ‘I am not interested in making a war movie’ – which was fun to recall as I watched her take great delight in overseeing fires and explosions during filming – but, rather, her vision was that the story should be told from a more feminine point of view, through Antonina’s instinct to safeguard the guests’ spirits and try to preserve that which makes us human. With Niki’s input, Angela did another draft of the script and it soared.”

Caro clarifies, “The first 20 pages of the initial draft were some of the best I’d ever read in a script, and these went unchanged for the final film. I was lucky to have Angela as our screenwriter; she knew the source material so well that together we could envision what the movie should be. Diane’s book was a resource for the texture of the film, as she had researched and recorded everything so poetically.

“I embraced how this story was very exotic, very domestic, and very feminine. Above all, it was an opportunity to explore what makes us human – and, humane.”

Producer Jamie Patricof remarks, “It’s a unique story with a title that doesn’t automatically connotate ‘a World War II film’ and that does pique people’s curiosity. Who could have imagined a miracle like this happening during that time?”

Patricof joined the project after Caro and Workman had begun working together, and found that “Niki both knows exactly what she wants and is incredibly collaborative. She was always moving to bring authenticity into every aspect of telling this story.”

Levin adds, “Niki was able to see Antonina in a new light, which people’s survival stories could be dramatized, and what the pulse of the zoo would be. If you’ve seen her other movies, you know that she zeroes in on intimate and delicate moments in her film that she puts together like lace, but she also plunges into moments of conflict which test her characters. That certainly described Antonina’s life, which we needed to show.

“We didn’t hire Niki as our director because she was a woman; we hired her because she was the right person for this movie, being both pragmatic and creative.”

Workman remarks, “Adapting any book into a screenplay is a challenge. With nonfiction, you are confronted with names and statistics. But I knew that Antonina was the engine for the story, and so I had to build a storyline that centered on her, and that moved the film forward over the course of many years.

“After I met with Niki, we would communicate via phone and e-mail. She would float ideas to me, I would think about them, respond in writing; it was like a quiet dance over the miles. Niki has a gentle way about her but is just so astute with her ideas. We had a shorthand almost immediately. Working with her was a collaboration and a joy.”

Caro adds, “At the script stage, I was always thinking about the tension of being caged – whether as an animal or human – and the visual storytelling was colored by that. It meant we shot through iron bars a lot, which is more difficult than I ever imagined…

“What we always came back to was the truth of the Holocaust, and how it was impacting the world and in particular this community. We researched documentary evidence on the Holocaust and the Warsaw Ghetto; the children, the starvation, the poverty, the sickness, the overcrowding…somehow you have to express it in a way that people can handle. There can be no flinching from it.”

To play the lead role of Antonina Żabińska, the filmmakers needed an actress who would not flinch from the range of emotions required to honor the subject. Jessica Chastain was at the top of everyone’s list; she was sent the script and then met with Caro. Chastain committed to the project, and would remain so through the several years that it took to roll the cameras. To that end, she became an executive producer on The Zookeeper’s Wife. She amassed her own research on the period and the character, and visited the Warsaw Zoo – which reopened a few years after the war ended – to get a sense of the environment.

She says, “Here was an incredible arc for an actress to play. I wanted to portray Antonina because I love the compassion she exemplified and the heroism in that compassion. I also responded to the character trait in the script of how she read energy in people and also in animals. She had to be wary yet confident.

“I was fascinated at how the healing that she tried to provide for the guests included a strong musical component. She was a classically trained pianist, and I wanted to convey how she was keeping that as a beacon for people, the pride and the culture.”

Antonina and Jan’s daughter Teresa Żabińska remembers, “Several of our guests played as well, when concerts were held in the evenings.

“The piano held a special importance in the house during the occupation because it was used to play an alarm signal. It was my mother’s idea to choose the Offenbach operetta excerpt as the warning that everyone who lived there had to get to their designated hiding places.” As heard in The Zookeeper’s Wife, that excerpt is “Pars pour la Crête (La belle Hélène)” [a.k.a. “Beautiful Helen”].

Chastain, not a trained pianist herself, learned to play excerpts of classical music especially for The Zookeeper’s Wife. She had played a small Chopin piece for an earlier movie, but this time she needed to master at least a minute each of several different composers’ works. Accordingly, Chastain undertook two months’ worth of piano tuition before shooting began and then continued her training even after filming began.

Workman remarks, “I don’t think Antonina ever called herself a hero. That she would not speak to this makes her an interesting subject, and is one of her contradictions – that’s ‘contradictions’ rather than ‘faults,’ which are not the same things. What particularly fascinated me was that she felt compelled to make a sanctuary for frightened, persecuted people.

“Antonina, I feel, was extraordinarily vulnerable; it’s what made her so tender with animals. But still, she found her will, her strength, to act with immense bravery, in spite of that vulnerability, or maybe as a result of it. She understood a fearful animal. We needed to look at how frightened she was, how her strength had to come from a deep reserve. Jessica was interested in exploring that dichotomy in her character.”

For Chastain, “there was a lot in the script to work with, and one thing I noticed was that she never really questions her husband in the beginning of the film. She’s quite submissive. But as events progress, she is able to be equal with humans, as she is with animals. She becomes stronger.

“I get very possessive when playing a character; I want to access their secrets and fears. Niki would work with me to elevate a scene and try things out but we would never go for something that was not real for Antonina, that she would not have done or been.”

Chastain adds, “I’ve never been on a set with as many women as we had working on The Zookeeper’s Wife, which made for a richly collaborative experience. It was great to have a female camera operator, Rachael [Levine], and stunt coordinator, Antje [Rau].”

Actor Daniel Brühl, cast opposite Chastain as Lutz Heck, the Nazis’ newly appointed chief zoologist who is something of a predatory animal himself, found that “Jessica carries this elegance with her, reminding me of an actress from the 1930s or 1940s. Sometimes I would get transfixed by how perfectly she inhabited the period.”

Patricof points out that the actresses of that time period “played multi-faceted characters, complicated women. The role of Antonina has different layers. She is the wife of an exceptional man, but she is also her own extraordinary self. She has to handle the Germans – these men who are circling her – and also be a mother and a mother figure. Jessica was uniquely suited to impart all of this into one performance.”

Chastain confides, “Between filming some of the darker scenes, I didn’t want to stay in-character the whole time; I find that draining, when there are many emotions. Daniel has a wicked sense of humor, so I would be laughing with him once ‘cut’ was called.”

Brühl honed in on striking contradictions within his own character. The real Heck was controversial figure, a supporter of the Nazi Aryan ideal and the creation of not just perfect humans but also perfect animals through selective breeding. Heck’s breeding projects were brainstormed to return extinct “super beasts” to life, most notably his obsession: the Auroch, an extremely powerful bison once common in German forests.

The actor notes, “I was fascinated by both the book and the real history behind it. When we first get to know Heck it is as a friend of the couple; they share the same passion and love for animals. After the German invasion, he changes and becomes far more committed to the Nazi party and their ideals – which is a shock to Antonina and Jan. I wanted to play the paradox of his being into nature and the protection of animals while also being a defender of the atrocities the Nazis were committing.

“He sees keeping the Zoo around – running as a pig farm – as a chance to get closer to Antonina not only because he’s attracted to her but also because he respects her talent with animals and imagines they share a special gift. He in fact did save some of the animals, but that was egotistically motivated because they were being transferred to his own zoo in Germany. At all times, Antonina has to try to anticipate his instincts.”

Abberley adds, “Heck did care deeply about animals and yet was also fully prepared to experiment on their genetics in an effort to bring about some mythological beast. As we know all too well, in the Nazi party there were doctors experimenting on humans for ‘purification’ and Heck was attempting something comparable on animals.

“Daniel is an actor of great charm who transmits intelligence on-screen in a way that is mesmerizing. But he could also show the menace that Heck was capable of.”

Caro states, “I felt it was important to avoid the moustache-twirling villain stereotype. What I found in Daniel was not afraid to play the complexity of his character.”

If Heck’s motives for what he did were complex, Jan Żabiński’s were much clearer. Workman points out that “the Warsaw Ghetto was right across the river from the Warsaw Zoo. The Holocaust was happening in front of their eyes.”

Flemish actor Johan Heldenbergh, whose favorite book is Jerzy Kosinski’s The Painted Bird, which explores WWII in Poland, was keen to convey how the zookeeper progressed over five years’ time “from a liberal-minded intellectual into a soldier. What I believe he found was his that love for his country and his need to protect his fellow man was an even stronger motivation than staying safe. Jan, who thought he knew animals, found himself questioning whether he understood the human animal any more. It’s important that we recognize how humans can be frightened and themselves turn into mistrusting, dangerous animals.”

He notes, “Each individual’s story of the Holocaust is different. There are those who embraced trust. Whether it is Oskar Schindler’s story [in Schindler’s List] or Wladyslaw Szpilman’s [The Pianist] or Jan and Antonina’s, these stories must be told – and retold.

“Carrying with him what he sees places a heavy emotional burden on Jan. He goes into the Warsaw Ghetto, and goes on to fight in the [1944] Uprising. His daily battles are more visceral than those experienced by Antonina; I can’t imagine going through what he did, seeing what he saw, getting children to hide amidst garbage. He shields his wife from much of what he sees and hears outside the zoo, to protect her and their children, but when you start keeping secrets from a spouse, that’s hard on a relationship.”

Levin comments, “They were partners in life and partners in danger. Yet Jan created some distance between he and Antonina during the war. It was painful but necessary; he wanted to keep her from worrying about him even more than she already was.”

Zubick remarks that for the filmmakers “Jan was the hardest character to find on the page, and then the hardest one to cast. He was so stoic, trying to protect Antonina and his children from the realities that he was confronting. Johan brings a layer of emotional accessibility to Jan, which became a real access point into the relationship between him and Antonina as well as illuminating what drove the man to take the risks he did. Johan crafted the portrayal beyond even what we had expected, and it was beautiful to see.”

Teresa Żabińska visited the set and spoke with the actors and filmmakers. She reveals, “My father was not a sentimental man, and he was quite serious. But at the same time he had an incredible sense of humor; Mom did too, although of a different kind.”

Heldenbergh says, “I do feel that Jan was more the brains of the zoo and Antonina was more the soul of the zoo. He would look at animals in scientific terms, while she would connect with them in ways that he could not. Her work influenced him to change the zoo into a natural habitat, which was a progression they had almost completed when their country was invaded.

“The way Jessica saw Antonina made a difference in how I saw Jan. Also, her playing Antonina as vulnerable allowed me to play it stronger. Niki reminded us that it was how men and women carried themselves, in that time, in their relationships.”

During the casting process, it was Chastain who had recommended that Caro and the producers watch Heldenbergh’s performance in the award-winning The Broken Circle Breakdown. Chastain remembers, “I was blown away by that film, and thought, ‘This is an actor I want to work with!’ Johan is dynamic, and can express so much with just a look. He is soulful.”

Caro elaborates, “Johan registers as very masculine, yet he is completely emotionally open, which is exciting. He’s solid, and he’s sensitive – and he has a strong profile.

“Whenever I go through the casting process on a movie, I am extremely sensitive to the truth of the story. I love to work on fact-based material, and am always looking for the most authentic actor for the role.”

Having made movies revolving around specific cultures, Caro is attentive to more than just the top-billed actors on a project. She explains, “This movie was huge, so there were over 60 people that I chose for not only their talent and skill but also for their personal connection to the material. This ensures that when we get to the set, I am working with people who have a mainline into the truth of the story. On The Zookeeper’s Wife, I was determined to avoid anything sentimental.

“It was a privilege on this movie to collaborate with actors who inhabited their characters, and the reality of the time and place, so effortlessly and passionately.”

Israeli actress Efrat Dor portrays Magdalena (Magda) Gross, the esteemed Polish-Jewish sculptress who was known for her earth-toned animal depictions which were inspired by her lengthy and contemplative visits to the Warsaw Zoo. She was a close friend of Jan and especially of Antonina.

Dor read the script and “was very moved. It was beautifully written. My grandmother is Polish and Jewish, and she lost her entire family in the Holocaust. I felt, in some way, this would be telling her story. I mixed in Magda Gross with my grandmother for the portrayal; she was the first person I told about the project once I was cast, and she shared stories with me about how it was. When filming some of the scenes, I burst into tears because I was thinking about her.

“In hiding, Magda can’t really make art any more, yet she keeps a piece of clay with her – as a way of not giving up. After the war, she resumed sculpting and got married.”

Magda Gross’s life partner was Maurycy Fraenkel, portrayed in The Zookeeper’s Wife by Iddo Goldberg – who, like Dor, lost relatives in the Holocaust. Fraenkel was a well-respected and prosperous lawyer as well as an active patron of the arts and the Warsaw Zoo. He had been incarcerated in the Warsaw Ghetto until he was reunited with Magda at Jan and Antonina’s villa.

The actor reflects, “My sense is that the invasion of Poland snuck up on so many Jewish people. A few had read the writing on the wall and got out of Warsaw, but many more couldn’t for a second imagine that this was going to happen.

“It was incremental; first, there were all these decrees issued against the Jews. You can’t walk on the sidewalk with a German, you can’t look a German soldier in the eye, you have to turn over your property to someone else, you can’t leave the Ghetto. Slowly life was being taken from them.”

Standing in for those whose childhood was forever scarred, the character of the orphaned Urszula is portrayed by a rising star, Israeli actress Shira Haas. Caro reveals, “I asked for this character to be created for the film. It was important to represent the brutal horror of war; what it does to children is particularly heartbreaking. But Urszula also comes to exemplify hope and healing.”

Haas saw her character as “a frightened animal, really. She has lost her family and is surviving in awful circumstances in the Ghetto until things get even worse. Jan moves to save her on impulse.

“At first, Urszula will not respond to Antonina or anyone. She can’t interact with people; it takes her a long time to get back to believing in humanity. Her story is relevant to kids today, and we show how there is hope when people choose to help.”

Haas worked closely with “Niki, who I think is brilliant, on Urszula’s shifts, whether it was in her eyes or her voice or her movements. Also, Jessica was such a good partner to me as an actress and as a person. Even when the camera was not on her in our scenes together she was completely there for me, and that safe feeling was so important.”

Game of Thrones star Michael McElhatton was cast as Jerzyk, a Resistance member who is a trusted family retainer and confidant. McElhatton says, “Jerzyk has worked for Jan and Antonina for a long time. He’s a very loyal, stoic guy who becomes quietly heroic. The Warsaw Zoo is his home; he has no other life, and he realizes right away that by keeping his faith in it he can help the couple do a lot for people in dire situations.

“The script was very well-written, and my character is a man of few words. Niki and I discussed how Jerzyk is aware of class divides – and respects these societal structures –and we also worked on his physicality.”

As the actors of different nationalities came together to tell a universal human story, dialogue coach Joan Washington was on call to help cast members work at capturing the cadences of Polish accents.

The Zookeeper’s Wife cast was then rounded out by a self-contained yet wild ensemble – namely, real animals. CGI and effects work were kept to minimum, utilized only for the disturbing or dangerous scenes involving animals, including the images of fatalities.

The animal cast included big cats and cubs, zebras, monkeys, camels, elephants, wolves, bison, horses, pigs, birds of prey, a parrot, a skunk, and yet more species. Animals were recruited from professional handlers who work regularly with film and television productions, as well as from private individuals. Polar bears and giraffes were filmed separately in habitats at the Prague Zoo and edited into the main filming unit’s footage.

All animals had their own handlers on-set, some of whom were in period costume so that they could accompany the animals on-screen. The animals were never handled without expert supervision, and animal handlers and veterinarians were embedded with the production 24 hours a day.

Caro knew that animal costars would create more on-set challenges, but for her “there was no other decision than to have real animals. It seemed like it would be a cop-out to tell a real story and then put fake animals in it. No question that you can make animals out of a computer impressively well, but they’re always going to behave as directed…

“…and the thing about animals is that they’re totally unpredictable. They act according to their natures, and to their environment. I am opposed to animals learning tricks for the camera. I’m a human being so I can’t tell a tiger how to be a tiger. A tiger is perfect in and of itself. So we needed to create an environment on the set where the animals could be free to behave exactly as animals do.”

Patricof confirms, “We all figured, let the animals be animals. If the script said that an animal does one thing and it decided to do the opposite, then we would make that work. The scenes with them feel that much more real as a result, as their human costars were fully engaged.”

Production designer Suzie Davies spared no expense and worked creatively to construct safe, comfortable enclosures for the animals. She created an idyllic temporary home for them, one that also reflected the style of a 1930s zoo. For any and every scene, the production was careful to observe animal treatment standards including minimum repetition that would always respect animal capabilities.

Abberley offers, “It was all about keeping the project as realistic as possible, and real interaction for our actors with these beautiful animals – with no harm being caused to them –would mirror what made the Warsaw Zoo so special in its time.”

Teresa Żabińska recounts, “My mother was not a zoologist by education; my father taught her the basics of working with them. She had an interest for it, good intuition, and an incredible talent.”

An animal lover since childhood, Chastain relished the opportunity to be hands-on with her costars. As part of her extensive preparation for the film, she spent time with the zookeepers of Brooklyn Zoo in New York City.

Caro marvels, “The combination of real creatures and an actress who has an otherworldly connection to them made for extraordinary moments. Jessica was critical to my vision for the movie, and when I met her the first thing she said was that she loved animals. But I had no idea of the depth of her affinity with them. In that regard Jessica and Antonina share a very, very rare gift. Many times during shooting, Jessica would calm the animals, make them feel safe. This was a joy to watch and certainly a joy to shoot.”

Chastain confides, “Animals are very therapeutic. By caring for them on the set, I wasn’t wallowing in my own exhaustion!”

Zubick remarks, “Jessica resembles the real Antonina in many ways, one of which is her ability to interact with the animals. She had a sixth sense with them; they would show spontaneity and emotion with her.”

The elephant-birthing sequence paired Chastain with a full-grown elephant – one whose roving trunk was constantly in search of the apples concealed in her costume. With regard to the newborn elephant, Davies joked that “there was no way we were going to get an elephant to give birth on cue for us.”

So for the newborn, the production team ordered up a prosthetic animal. Davies reports, “We had this baby elephant built with a little hole behind its ear where you could put a hand in and move all the different structures inside, making it seem to breathe and seem real.”

Extensive filming was done on location in the largely abandoned fortress town of Josefov, situated approximately two hours outside of Prague in the Czech Republic. Zubick states, “With full support from the Czech film commission, the city allowed us to create incredible imagery in real environments. Our Czech crew members and extras were invaluable to realizing Niki’s vision for the movie. After living with the project for so long, having new colleagues bring their skills to bear on it was so exciting.

“We were able to block off streets which we dressed to look like Warsaw, in which we then set free an array of wild animals to roam We had tigers, kangaroos…What had happened in 1939 was that the animals who survived the attack on the Zoo fled into the city, wandering the streets until they were captured.”

Second unit director and visual effects supervisor Robert Grasmere reports that “working with the animals was a pleasure; they behaved better than a lot of humans I know...”

Grasmere captured footage of animals depicting them after the devastation of the zoo, concentrating on lions, zebras, and camels. This lensing entailed closing off and safeguarding a working street and then letting the animals wander and explore the bombed-out set, one species at a time. He remembers, “The animals were extraordinary. They went into this space and we just let them go; we didn’t tell them what to do or give them any cues. They had a great time. One prop was a baby carriage that had been abandoned in the bombing, and a lion went over and played with it.”

McElhatton remarks, “That’s part of what makes this story so unique: the animal element. Zoos throughout the world were impacted by these terrible events. They were not immune to the tragedy of war.”

Even in scenes depicting the havoc that war has wrought, Caro strove to convey signs of hope and renewal. To keep the overall look of The Zookeeper’s Wife from becoming monotone and downbeat, she worked with department heads early on.

Cinematographer Andrij Parekh carefully mixed light and dark, particularly in the interiors. Caro says, “It was the first time I had worked with Andrij and I hope it’s not the last. He completely understood when I said everything had to be real yet beautiful, and how I wanted to tell this story in a particularly feminine way. There are vehicles and soldiers and guns, but there are also textures and skin and fur – some sensual details. Those too are reality for this story’s characters.

“It wasn’t just that Andrij captured these facets; he was able to truly see them, and he lit them in the most exquisite way. We never approached The Zookeeper’s Wife like ‘a period movie; we shot it like a contemporary movie so that you can feel as if you’re right in it with these people and these animals.”

Patricof, who had already made several features with Parekh, adds, “Andrij is a fantastic director of photography, and something that separates him from other ones is that he listens while he is working. While looking through the viewfinder or the camera is critical, at the same time he will hear what people are saying and what’s going on around him. The results are lovely and sometimes haunting.”

Workman’s screenplay and Ackerman’s book both provided inspiration for the look and the feeling of the film. Davies remarks, “For the art department, the descriptions were poetic. There was already plenty of research to draw from, but I felt I needed to do more. I’d designed WWII dramas prior so I had retained some of that knowledge. I went to Warsaw a couple of times and visited the Warsaw Uprising museum.

“Because the story extends into the 1940s, there was considerable photographic footage. What was important was, we were looking at not only the war documentation but also the domestic situations: what was the wallpaper like, what crockery did they use, what clothes were being worn, and so forth. That’s when it really started to gel.”

The biggest single set was the Warsaw Zoo with the family’s adjacent home, a Bauhaus design villa. To house the whole environment, a disused park in Prague was considered. Caro remembers, “Suzie had scouted Prague ahead of me, and she took me to a long-neglected Exhibition Park and said, ‘I think we could build a zoo here.’ This was a bold vision, and I could see immediately how perfect it would be. We literally built our own zoo.”

The family’s actual villa still stands today, and was visited by the filmmakers for reference; it underwent renovations a few years ago, with part of it designated as a museum dedicated to Jan and Antonina. The zoo build took inspiration from several other European zoos of the period, in addition to the Warsaw Zoo itself. McElhatton marvels, “The space went from a car park to something out of a fairy tale – incredible!”

Davies and her team including set decorator Charlotte Watts “had to create a zoo that we could film in, and that could run for several months of filming including a change of seasons while staying sustainable. That’s why there were components of different zoos, while always keeping Warsaw’s as a key one. The Warsaw Zoo had a main central drag which we recreated, although ours was about one-eighth of the size of the real one.

“The single biggest challenge on The Zookeeper’s Wife was building the zoo in five weeks during summertime. To see what we had accomplished lasting five months later with matured trees made all that concentrated work well worth it.”

Although less sprawling, other sets and locations were also complicated. The villa, the hub of the family’s domesticity, hewed very close externally to the original. Jan and Antonina’s bedroom was created on-site, but the other rooms had to be filmed on studio soundstages. Davies reveals, “I tried to make it feel textured and layered in every room, as human lives are. The basement was rendered a dark red to make it feel womb-like, or like a beating heart, because it is where lives are being saved and sustained: first animals and then people. Once survivors are being hidden there, a makeshift classroom gets added and there are laundry and sewing spaces, among other essentials.

“The next level of the house was the ground floor with its front room. This one we made a bit more showy and formal, because Jan and Antonina were part of the literati of Warsaw and it was a reception room. The block-printed wallpaper we used was from 1929; we found it in Antwerp. It’s quite strong and bold yet lyrical, and it has the geometric detail so that it felt like music, and it also has flying birds – it was so apt for our story that I couldn’t resist it!”

Also on the ground floor is a bustling kitchen, which Davies describes as “organized chaos, full of detail where the cook is constantly at work.”

Upstairs are the bedrooms, “which are more personal and feminine. Jan and Antonina’s master bedroom has navy-blue silk wallpaper, which was also period. What was important to show here, with the passage of time and with Jan being away, is how Antonina never gives up and never loses sight of keeping on; so there is always a flower, even when reduced to a weed, in the vase on the bedroom table.”

Teresa Żabińska muses, “When my father was absent, Mom had to keep everything functioning, and she was a motivating force. She took great care so that my brother Ryszard Żabiński and I could try to have a normal life, as if there was no evil happening outside.”

The art department’s attention to detail, echoing Antonina’s own, impressed Chastain. She notes, “The villa didn’t feel like a movie set or too glamorous, which was important since we were making a film about real people. Suzy did an extraordinary job, including directly referencing Antonina’s actual home.”

Davies subtly advanced themes of the story and the history. She says, “In the villa, we have nods to cages and boundaries. The spinal cord of the whole zoo is in the basement of that villa, as there are tunnels running all the way through and under. It’s a lifeline that extends, and thrives.

“When showing the cages that housed animals and then protected humans, we would keep at least some doors open to show that there is captivity but also freedom.”

Zubick reports, “The basement set has all these different nooks and crannies where people hid. Charlotte Watts conceived histories for each item that had been preserved; for example, there is a rolled-up man’s tie, which represents a husband lost in the war.”

Perhaps the most meaningful work done by the art department was the mural on a wall of the cellar, which comes to stand as a symbol of resilience and community. Davies states, “Niki wanted something reflecting a child’s imagination. We looked at cave drawings and drawings by Jewish children in the Ghetto for inspiration, and from there we saw how we could evolve it.

“The texture on the wall was a very hard concrete render. We restricted our colors because it had to reflect what was in a child’s coloring set and whatever else would have been available to supplement that. The end result is like folk art; it has a naïveté yet there’s also this intense depth to it. The way that Andrij shot it is beautiful; the first time we see it, lit by candles, it looks like the figures are dancing across the wall.”

Caro elaborates, “Suzie’s department worked so hard to create it. I think it’s Chagall-like, it dances and it has life – as the villa had life; there is animal and human life that can’t and won’t be eradicated, all the life of Jewish and Polish cultures that managed to survive and to thrive in this house despite the worst happening outside.”

To depict the horror unfolding nearby, the production recreated the Warsaw Ghetto on location in Josefov. Buildings and courtyards were dressed to look like the Ghetto’s 1.3 square miles, as the designers and costumers pushed themselves to re-create the German occupation in full. Davies reflects, “We wanted to be authentic. But for this movie we felt we needed to express more; for example, how the Jews were forced out of their homes and into the Ghetto, carrying as much as they could. Their pockets were full, and everything was wrapped up in a curtain or rug. The Ghetto wasn’t just bricks and mortar; it was clothes, cases, furniture, all with people trying to live, to keep living.”

Abberley notes, “This was a very emotional project for everybody, and the Ghetto sequences were particularly difficult to do. Recreating the Ghetto reminded us that these events didn’t take place that long ago, and that similar events happen in different parts of our world today. We felt we had to convey the reality of 380,000 people herded into a small area and confined there for years while their conditions deteriorated exponentially day by day.”

Patricof remembers, “The filming of the Ghetto was some of the most challenging days I’ve ever had on a shoot. Suzie and her team had done such an extraordinary job of transporting you there. Seeing the scenes playing out, of people dying and the Ghetto burning, there were days where many of us would be in tears.”

Zubick reflects, “I arrived on the Ghetto set just as the sun was coming up one morning. The set was a snow-covered street littered with people’s belongings…suitcases, books...the remnants of those who had been shoved into cattle cars and shipped off to slaughter. At that moment, I was struck by the weight of all the stories behind the one we were telling.”

Costume designer Sabine Daigeler, known as Bina, worked closely with make-up and hair designer Denise Kum through pre-production and production from research materials for both main cast and extras. The clothes of the key cast were all handmade, as Daigeler’s mandate was materials and patterns accurate to the period. Daigeler reveals, “I designed these clothes in a big work room where we then had 8-10 people sewing and stitching, including of multiples of the same costume whether for time progression or as backups – which were needed often after scenes with the animals!

“What’s most helpful is to look at documentary footage and photos. Ultimately, we prepared a big planning book for the movie that was mapped out scene by scene.”

Caro comments, “The hair and make-up and wardrobe departments were fabulous. I don’t say that lightly or frivolously; what these teams did with hundreds of extras, whether in the Ghetto or in the glamorous belle époque of pre-war Warsaw, was to see everything on the very last extra was truthful – because they cared. Whether it was seams on the stockings or clips in the hair, every performer was impeccably attended to.”

Daigeler notes, “For Jessica Chastain, it was vital to be dressed like the real Antonina, who was quite conservative for her period, and was very feminine. Today, a woman working daily in a zoo would wear pants and be much more casual, yet we knew from our conversations with Antonina’s daughter Teresa that her mother just did it all in a everyday dress. I was a little bit worried how this would look, but Jessica is such a consummate actress that she made Antonina’s style her own and it felt right.”

Chastain admits, “I was a bit shocked to see how feminine Antonina was. Teresa told me that her mother’s hair was always done and that she loved lipstick. She also said that Antonina loved nail polish, but Jan didn’t like it and so she rarely wore it. Everything I learned from Teresa helped me get at the nature of the woman who was taking care of all of these people; she is trying to bring any joy and happiness she can, and she takes care in her appearance because that is part of her not wanting anyone to forget that they are human.”

Caro confides, “Teresa, who is depicted in the movie as a baby and then a small child, said that Jessica was just like her mother.”

For Daniel Brühl, Daigleler took major inspiration from the German hunting style of tailoring. Heck is seen out of uniform well into the timeline, reflecting his more relaxed relationship with Antonina and Jan. Complementing this, Kum aged the actor subtly to reflect the decadent lifestyle of a German officer with food, drink, and other indulgences. Kum says, “The female characters were aged even more subtly. I tried to make that process more poetic than literal.”

Fans of Johan Heldenbergh may be surprised to see him clean-shaven as Jan Żabiński; aside from being accurate to the character and historical record, this allowed the actor to more fully express on Jan’s face the range of emotions as his activities become more risky. Jan’s clothing reflects both sides of the man’s life: the academic’s tailored suits and the zookeeper’s practical work clothes, the latter of which get additional wear-and-tear during the Resistance efforts.

The costume department also bookmarked modifications in German uniforms as WWII progressed, making use of research as well as input from military uniforms advisor Harry Fakner. Even epaulets and buttons were carefully monitored for accuracy.

Brühl marvels, “We would be doing these wide shots where the precision and accuracy would be mind-blowing wherever you looked. The production design, the costume and make-up department – everything was impeccable, and Niki would keep everything going at an efficient pace.”

The huge stock of costumes encompassed the rich and the poor, and adults and children. Clothes were brought in from all over Europe for 3,000 extras; then, considerable time was spent appropriately aging or distressing them. The Ghetto scenes were all filmed in a two-week period, but spanned three-and-one-half years. Flashes of color in, or underneath, the costumes of the Ghetto’s Jews recall more humane times in their lives. Daigeler comments, “Niki gave us a lot of creative freedom.”

Dor remembers, “There was one scene with my character where I wondered, ‘Would Magda wear a dress-up hat while all this is happening?’ Then Niki and I discussed how it was a way to reclaim humanity when in hiding. As a director, Niki makes every actor feel important to a scene.”

Goldberg notes, “Not only is there a considerate atmosphere on the set, but Niki is also good at advising you on what’s needed and what’s not, such as when less emotion might be better for a scene.”

Kum muses, “Niki’s approach is character-based. After having made a number of movies with her over the years I brought nuances to this project that I knew she would like and that would support the way she works.

“Niki privileges performers, so much then depends on who the actor is and what they bring to the table. I work quite fluidly with the actors while taking notes from Niki about what her viewpoint is. Then I bring my ideas to the table and we build it together with the actor. Even if people were in for only one or two days, we were always thinking, ‘What’s happening with this character? What’s their journey? How can we show that on-screen?’ What truly helps create the world of the story is when you envision the cast together rather than singularly.”

So it was that Kum and her department tended to extras in the Ghetto scenes by making sure that teeth weren’t too white, roughening looks with dried-out-looking hair, and greying skin to show suffering and malnourishment.

All of which forcefully reminded everyone making the movie of events that are playing out across the world today. Jamie Patricof reminds, “There is a quote from Primo Levi, who survived the Holocaust: ‘It happened, therefore it can happen again.’

“In making The Zookeeper’s Wife, we hope that it will be a reminder to people: do not turn a blind eye to what goes on today in the world.”

Diane Ackerman calls Jan and Antonina’s efforts “compassionate heroism. Jan was very brave in a more traditional kind of way. But Antonina represents the kind of heroism that is taking place every single day on our planet, even though we don’t hear about it much; the media tends to feature heroes that are violent, and more full of hatred rather than kindness. These stories alarm us and we pay attention to larger-than-life people, but, why we don’t feature the good side of human nature as often?

“Antonina did what she did with enormous generosity of spirit, as well as cleverness and an iron backbone. She was an unbelievably empathetic woman. She performed radical acts of compassion.”

Teresa Żabińska remembers, “For my parents, it was: a decent human being should behave decently. That was their natural belief.

“It’s not true that my mother wasn’t afraid. She always talked about it afterwards, how very afraid she was. But in dangerous situations, she knew intuitively and instinctively how to act and what to do.”

Diane Miller Levin adds, “Antonina and Jan realized that they could save a lot of lives. Yet I don’t feel that they would think of themselves as heroes at all but rather as people doing what was called for.

“It’s been a privilege to work on a film that confronts the face of hate. My hope is that people will see The Zookeeper’s Wife, then ask themselves, ‘What would I do?’ and then find the best version of themselves for today. It is never too late for acts of compassion and it is never too late to act; one person can make a difference in the world.”

Kim Zubick elaborates, “That’s why this story is so important in today’s world; it tells the story of the everyman. The two zookeepers were not equipped in any way differently than anyone else. But they held fast to their humanity.”

Angela Workman says, “We’re all human, but sometimes refugees are perceived as ‘the other,’ and for that reason we fear them. But we can choose to see them differently. We can choose to help someone we don’t know, or think we don’t know, if we see that they’re human, like us, and in need.”

Having made real-life stories into movies before, Niki Caro states, “I take the responsibility of putting people’s lives on film extremely seriously – and with a Holocaust story, even more so because there are so many souls to honor. I’m humbled by it and I’m honored to represent this on film.

“It’s not possible to stay close to every fact, but I try to be spiritually faithful to the material and the subjects. Here was, and is, heroism at its essence. Anybody anywhere who wants to be inspired to do something good in their life can take that initiative from this zookeeper and his wife.”

The Zookeeper’s Wife

About the Cast

JESSICA CHASTAIN (Antonina Żabińska)

Two-time Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain has emerged as one of the most sought-after actresses of her generation.

Ms. Chastain attended the Juilliard School in New York City. She soon commenced a professional stage career.

The breakthrough in her film career came when she was cast by director Terrence Malick in his film The Tree of Life, opposite Brad Pitt. The movie was an Academy Award nominee for the Best Picture of 2011, as was another film that she starred in, Tate Taylor’s The Help, adapted from Kathryn Stockett’s novel. Ms. Chastain’s performance in the latter earned her Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, BAFTA Award, Critics’ Choice Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, among other honors. With her fellow actors from The Help, she shared the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

She was again an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominee for her starring role in Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty, for which she won both Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Awards. Following completion of the latter, she made her Broadway debut in Moisés Kaufman’s staging of the classic play The Heiress.

Ms. Chastain’s other films include John Madden’s Miss Sloane, for which she was again a Golden Globe Award nominee, and The Debt; Ridley Scott’s The Martian, which was Oscar-nominated for Best Picture; J.C. Chandor’s A Most Violent Year, for which she was named Best Supporting Actress by the National Board of Review and for which she a Golden Globe Award and Spirit Award nominee; Jeff Nichols’ Take Shelter, for which she was a Spirit Award nominee; Liv Ullmann’s Miss Julie; Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak; Cedric Nicolas-Troyan’s The Huntsman: Winter’s War; John Hillcoat’s Lawless; Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster Interstellar; and Andrés Muschietti’s Mama, for which she received an MTV Movie Award nomination.

In 2014 Ms. Chastain received the first-ever Critics’ Choice Award for Most Valuable Player (MVP), recognizing the breadth and depth of her accomplishments.

She will soon be seen in Susanna White’s drama Woman Walks Ahead, starring as 19th-century artist and activist Catherine Weldon; Xavier Dolan’s The Death and Life of John F. Donovan; and Aaron Sorkin’s Molly’s Game, an adaptation of Molly Bloom’s memoir, starring as Ms. Bloom opposite Idris Elba.

After producing and starring in Ned Benson’s The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby and executive-producing and starring in The Zookeeper’s Wife, Ms. Chastain has inaugurated her own production venture, Freckle Films, which has a first-look overhead deal with Trudie Styler and Celine Rattray’s transatlantic financing and production banner Maven Pictures.

JOHAN HELDENBERGH (Jan Żabiński)

A native of Belgium, Johan Heldenbergh is an actor, playwright, screenwriter, theatre director, film director, and musician.

As a theatre actor, he has collaborated with internationally renowned directors, writers, and choreographers. With Arne Sierens, he founded the Compagnie Cecilia troupe in Ghent.

His international breakthrough came with the emotional drama The Broken Circle Breakdown, which was based on the stage play that he wrote. The movie version, directed by Felix van Groeningen, was Academy Award-nominated for Best Foreign Language Film and won the Cesar Award (France’s Oscars equivalent) for Best Foreign Film. Mr. Heldenbergh’s powerful performance in the film brought him César and European Film Award nominations. The movie’s many other accolades around the world included the Best Screenplay and Best Actress (Veerle Baetens) awards at the Tribeca Film Festival.

The soundtrack to The Broken Circle Breakdown was a chart-topping success in Europe and in the U.S.; the cast and musicians, including Mr. Heldenbergh, went on a sold-out tour together as The Broken Circle Breakdown Bluegrass Band.

As actor, he is popular not just in films but also on stage and television in Belgium. After having starred on such series as De Ronde, he joined the cast of the international hit drama The Tunnel for its second season.

His eclectic roster of film work has included roles in the features The Misfortunates, also directed by Mr. van Groeningen; Moscow, Belgium, directed by Christophe van Rompaey; Fred Grivois’ Through the Air, opposite Reda Kateb and Ludivine Sagnier; Jaco Van Dormael’s The Brand New Testament; and Roberto Andò’s Le Confessioni, alongside Toni Servillo, Daniel Auteuil, Connie Nielsen, and Marie-Josée Croze.

Mr. Heldenbergh has completed filming Bille August’s 55 Steps, with Helena Bonham Carter and Hilary Swank, and Les Carnivores, the French debut feature from Jérémie and Yannick Renier. He is currently shooting a new movie with French director Antony Cordier, Gaspard va au mariage (Gaspard Is Getting Married).

He wrote and co-directed the post-WWI drama Schellebelle 1919, which starred a cast of novices.

MICHAEL McELHATTON (Jerzyk)

Michael McElhatton is known to audiences worldwide for his portrayal of Roose Bolton on the television phenomenon Game of Thrones, having memorably played the character for five seasons and having shared a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination with his fellow actors for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. He also notably starred in the first season of another globally acclaimed show, The Fall.

Filmgoers have seen him in a host of distinctive features. These have included James Marsh’s award-winning Shadow Dancer, with Andrea Riseborough and Clive Owen; Rodrigo García’s Albert Nobbs, with Glenn Close and Janet McTeer; André Øvredal’s The Autopsy of Jane Doe; Richie Smyth’s The Siege of Jadotville; Corin Hardy’s The Hallow; Kari Skogland’s Fifty Dead Men Walking; John Boorman’s The Tiger’s Tail; Terry Loane’s Mickybo and Me; Paddy Breathnach’s I Went Down and Blow Dry (a.k.a. Never Better); John Crowley’s Intermission; and John Carney and Tom Hall’s November Afternoon. He next stars as Jack’s Eye in Guy Ritchie’s epic King Arthur: Legend of the Sword; and with Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan in the dramatic thriller The Foreigner, directed by Martin Campbell.

He has made several films with his fellow Irishman Conor McPherson, including Saltwater, The Actors, and The Eclipse. Their collaboration extends to the stage, with Mr. McElhatton starring in U.K. and N.Y. productions of The Night Alive and U.K. productions of Shining City and The Seafarer.

His other theater credits include starring at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre, in Conall Morrison’s staging of Twenty Grand, and Gate Theatre, in Alan Stanford’s staging of An Ideal Husband. Mr. McElhatton has starred in productions of such classic works as An Enemy of the People, As You Like It, and Romeo and Juliet.

His collaborations with Ian Fitzgibbon include being directed by the latter in the feature films Death of a Superhero, Spin the Bottle, and Perrier’s Bounty; and co-writing with the director the television series Fergus’s Wedding and Paths to Freedom, both of which starred Mr. McElhatton. He won an Irish Film and Television Award for his performance in the latter show.

He also wrote for, and starred on, the television series Your Bad Self. He is currently portraying real-life physicist Philipp Lenard in the new television series Genius: Einstein, starring with Geoffrey Rush as Albert Einstein for producer Ron Howard.

IDDO GOLDBERG (Maurycy Fraenkel)

A native of Haifa, Iddo Goldberg has established himself as an actor around the world and in multiple mediums.

Filmgoers have seen him in Edward Zwick’s Defiance, which as with The Zookeeper’s Wife, explore real-life WWII resistance heroes; Woody Allen’s Match Point; Florian Henckel Von Donnsersmarck’s The Tourist; Cédric Klapisch’s L’auberge espanole (The Spanish Apartment); Alexis Dos Santos’ Unmade Beds; and Omid Nooshin’s Last Passenger, among other movies. He next stars with Clive Owen and Amanda Seyfried in the new film from writer/director Andrew Niccol, Anon.

Television viewers know Mr. Goldberg from his starring roles as Isaac on Salem, the supernatural thriller which ran for three seasons, and as Ben on Secret Diary of a Call Girl, the romantic drama which ran for four seasons; and as a guest star on Peaky Blinders. He has also had guest appearances on Supergirl and NCIS.

His notable telefilms include two that, as with The Zookeeper’s Wife, illuminate true stories of Polish activists during WWII: Jon Avnet’s Uprising and John Kent Harrison’s The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler, a.k.a. Miss Irena’s Children.

Mr. Goldberg’s stage work includes starring in Steven Berkoff’s Hampstead New End Theatre production of Sit and Shiver; Nigel Townsend’s production of Pig in the Middle; and Angus Jackson’s Edinburgh Lyceum/Birmingham Repertory production of The Prayer Room.

EFRAT DOR (Magda Gross)

Actress Efrat Dor works in both her native Israel and the U.S., on both film and television projects.

Her next movie is Roei Florentien’s The Last Minute. Her previous movies include the musical comedy Cupcakes, directed by Eytan Fox, and Yoav and Doron Paz’s Phobidilia. Mr. Florentien has additionally directed her in the television series Ha-Hamama and, upcoming on Netflix, The Greenhouse Academy.

Ms. Dor has been acclaimed for her leading role in the television series Downtown Precinct – earning an Israel Television Academy Award nomination – Asfur, and Mermaids. She has also been part of the series Pillars of Smoke and Meorav Yeroshalmi.

Trained in acting and dance in the U.S. and Israel, Ms. Dor’s studies have included five years at the Royal Academy of Ballet as well as three years at the Beit Zvi School for the Performing Arts. She also spent a year studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute.

SHIRA HAAS (Urszula)

Israeli-born Shira Haas captured the world film community’s attention with her feature debut in the lead role of writer/director Tali Shalom-Ezer’s drama Princess. After debuting at the 2014 Jerusalem Film Festival, where Ms. Haas won the Best Actress prize, the movie screened at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and around the world. She also received an Ophir Award – Israel’s Oscars equivalent – nomination as Best Actress, and was named Best Actress at the 2015 Peace & Love Film Festival in Sweden.

Her next film was A Tale of Love and Darkness, directed and adapted by star Natalie Portman from Amos Oz’s memoir of the same name; the film world-premiered at the 2015 Cannes International Film Festival and was released in the U.S. by Focus World.

Among her television credits, Ms. Haas starred in two seasons of Shtisel, which won the Israel Television Academy Award for Best Drama Series. She also took part in miniseries including Hazoref and the upcoming The Harem; and was in the series Ikaron Hahachlafa.

She has starred onstage at the Cameri Theatre in Ghetto, directed by Omri Nitzan, and Richard III, directed by Arthur Kogan.

Ms. Haas recently completed filming the highly anticipated Mary Magdalene, directed by Garth Davis and starring Rooney Mara in the title role. Her other upcoming movies include Samuel Maoz’s Foxtrot and Imri Matalon and Aviad Givon’s The Body Remember.

DANIEL BRÜHL (Lutz Heck)

Garnering international recognition for his talent and versatility, Daniel Brühl continues to deliver striking performances.

Even before audiences worldwide took note of his scene-stealing turn in Quentin Tarantino’s smash Inglourious Basterds, Mr. Brühl was an established actor in Europe, and had been in movies since he was a teenager. His breakthrough had come with the starring role in Wolfgang Becker’s multi-award-winning sleeper hit Good Bye Lenin!, for which he won the European Film Award and the German Film Award for Best Actor.

Fluent in several languages, Mr. Brühl then made his first English-language film, Ladies in Lavender, with Judi Dench and Maggie Smith for director Charles Dance. His subsequent films included Christian Carion’s Joyeux Noël; Hans Weingartner’s The Edukators, for which he was again a European Film Award nominee; Julie Delpy’s 2 Days in Paris, 2 Days in New York, and The Countess; and Paul Greengrass’ The Bourne Ultimatum, which won three Academy Awards.

His portrayal of Formula 1 champion driver Niki Lauda in Ron Howard’s Rush earned Mr. Brühl Golden Globe, BAFTA, Critics’ Choice, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, among other honors.

His recent films also include Anton Corbijn’s A Most Wanted Man, alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman; Simon Curtis’ Woman in Gold, with Helen Mirren; John Wells’ Burnt, opposite Bradley Cooper; Me and Kaminski, reteaming him with director Wolfgang Becker; Bill Condon’s The Fifth Estate; Florian Gallenberger’s The Colony; Vincent Perez’s Alone in Berlin; Michael Winterbottom’s The Face of an Angel; and, as part of the Marvel Universe, Anthony and Joe Russo’s blockbuster Captain America: Civil War.

Mr. Brühl will soon be seen in the J.J. Abrams-produced 2017 Cloverfield movie, alongside Elizabeth Debicki, Chris O’Dowd, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ziyi Zhang, and David Oyelowo for director Julius Onah; and in the untitled feature thriller based on the true story of the 1976 Entebbe plane hijacking, in which he stars with Rosamund Pike for director José Padilha.

Mr. Brühl is currently at work filming The Alienist, starring in the title role of the television series adaptation of Caleb Carr’s celebrated book.

About the Filmmakers

NIKI CARO (Director)

As director and screenwriter, Niki Caro, is one of the most successful filmmakers to emerge from New Zealand.

After completing a BFA at Elam School of Fine Arts in Auckland, New Zealand as well as a Postgraduate Diploma in Film from Swinburne in Melbourne, Australia, Ms. Caro wrote and directed a number of highly acclaimed short films. Sure to Rise screened at the 1994 Cannes International Film Festival, and Footage was shown at the 1996 Venice International Film Festival. Her first feature film, Memory & Desire, focused on a Japanese married couple and was selected for Critics Week at the 1998 Cannes International Film Festival. It went on to win four New Zealand Film and Television Awards, including Best Film.

Her second feature film, Whale Rider, explored the Maori community of Whangara on New Zealand’s East Coast, and made an impact globally. Whale Rider was seen by millions of people and won over two dozen prizes around the world, including top honors at film festivals including Toronto (the People’s Choice Award), Sundance (the Audience Award), Rotterdam, San Francisco, Maui, and Seattle (Best Film). The film’s star Keisha Castle-Hughes received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, at the time the youngest nominee ever in that category.

Ms. Caro next directed North Country, a drama set in the U.S., on the Iron Range in Northern Minnesota. The film starred Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Sissy Spacek, and Woody Harrelson; Ms. Theron and Ms. McDormand were nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively, at the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, BAFTA Awards, Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, Satellite Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Awards, among other honors.

Continuing to strive to illuminate real lives and real communities on-screen, Ms. Caro directed the sleeper hit McFarland, USA, starring Kevin Costner. Set in California’s Central Valley, the movie followed an all-Latino cross-country team to victory.

She is currently completing directing Anne, a bold and inspired new vision of the beloved Anne of Green Gables story. The telefilm will commence a new Netflix series exploring the classic character of Anne Shirley, who will be portrayed by Irish-Canadian actress Amybeth McNulty, growing up in the 1890s.

ANGELA WORKMAN (Screenplay)

Angela Workman trained as an actress in classical theater at the prestigious Yale School of Drama. When her stage career took her from New York to Los Angeles, she began covering books and scripts for film companies. She eventually began writing screenplays that incorporated her love for epic histories.

Her first pitch, Brontë, about the beloved writers of Haworth, was bought by Steven Spielberg at DreamWorks. This was followed by an Edith Wharton adaptation, The Touchstone, for Warner Bros. Her first produced screenplay was The War Bride, which starred Anna Friel and Brenda Fricker. The movie was nominated for seven Genie Awards (Canada’s equivalent to the Oscars) and won two. It was an official selection at the London Film Festival and appeared in festivals around the world.

Ms. Workman has written scripts about the Spanish invasion of Yucatan for Roland Emmerich; about photographer Dorothea Lange for David Fincher, to star Rooney Mara; and about the romance between ballerina Tanny LeClercq and George Balanchine for Harvey Weinstein. She wrote the original adaptation of Lisa See’s best-selling novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, the film version of which was directed by Wayne Wang and featured Hugh Jackman; and trekked all over the Far East to adapt Gavin Menzies’ 1421: The Year China Discovered the World for Warner Bros China.

Longbourn, her adaptation of Jo Baker’s novel about the servants of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, is gearing up to shoot in the fall of 2017 with director Sharon Maguire and StudioCanal UK. For Liddell Entertainment, Ms. Workman is embarking on an epic history, scripting a movie about the 19th-century opium wars between China and Great Britain.

JEFF ABBERLEY, p.g.a. (Producer)

In August 2002, Jeff Abberley established Scion Films, with the aim of financing and producing feature films of significance.

Scion has had a long and successful collaboration with Universal Studios, helping to finance and/or executive-produce movies from Focus Features, Working Title Films, and Universal Pictures. Some of the films in which Scion has been involved are the Coen Brothers’ Burn After Reading, starring George Clooney, Frances McDormand, and Brad Pitt; Clint Eastwood’s Changeling, for which lead actress Angelina Jolie received an Academy Award nomination; David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises, for which lead actor Viggo Mortensen received an Academy Award nomination; Phillip Noyce’s acclaimed Catch a Fire, starring Tim Robbins and Derek Luke; Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice, for which lead actress Keira Knightley received an Academy Award nomination; Academy Award-winning writer/director Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson; Leatherheads, directed by and starring George Clooney; Mr. Bean’s Holiday, starring Rowan Atkinson and directed by Steve Bendelack; Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth: The Golden Age, starring Cate Blanchett and Clive Owen; Paul Greengrass’ The Bourne Ultimatum, starring Matt Damon, which won three Academy Awards; and Fernando Meirelles’ The Constant Gardener.

Rachel Weisz’s performance in the latter film earned her the Academy Award, the Golden Globe Award, and the Screen Actors Guild Award, among other accolades; and Mr. Meirelles was a Golden Globe Award nominee for Best Director.

Scion is also proud to have been involved in a number of significant independent films, including Joel Schumacher’s worldwide success The Phantom of the Opera; Julian Jarrold's Becoming Jane, starring Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy; Michael Winterbottom’s [Tristram Shandy:] A Cock and Bull Story; Antoine de Caunes’ Monsieur N.; Nick Hurran’s It's a Boy Girl Thing; Mary McGuckian’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey and Rag Tale; Richard E. Grant’s Wah-Wah; Diane English’s The Women, starring Meg Ryan, Jada Pinkett Smith, Annette Bening, Debra Messing, and Eva Mendes; and Lasse Hallström’s Hachi: A Dog’s Tale, starring Richard Gere.

JAMIE PATRICOF, p.g.a. (Producer)

Jamie Patricof is a co-founder of Electric City Entertainment, a production company based in Los Angeles.

Mr. Patricof recently produced the acclaimed independent feature Captain Fantastic, which was written and directed by Matt Ross and starred Viggo Mortensen, who was nominated for an Academy Award as well as a Golden Globe Award for his performance. Mr. Mortensen and the ensemble were also nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Awards’ top prize, for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture; and the film won the Directing Prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2016 Cannes International Film Festival.

He was recently an executive producer on Gavin O’Connor’s The Accountant, starring Ben Affleck, which opened at #1 at the domestic box office. 

Prior to that, Mr. Patricof was a producer on the film Mississippi Grind, which starred Ryan Reynolds, Ben Mendelsohn, and Sienna Miller. This film marked his third collaboration with filmmakers Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden. It was released by A24 Films in September 2015, after premiering at Sundance earlier that year.  The year prior, he teamed up with The Weinstein Company to produce Tim Burton’s Big Eyes, starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz.

He collaborated with Derek Cianfrance to produce The Place Beyond the Pines and Blue Valentine; the latter starred Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams and was released by The Weinstein Company, earning multiple Golden Globe nominations, as well as a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for Ms. Williams. The former starred Mr. Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Rose Byrne, and Ray Liotta.

Mr. Patricof's first feature with Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, Half Nelson, garnered significant awards attention, highlighted by Spirit and Gotham Award victories as well as an Academy Award nomination for Ryan Gosling; their second feature together was Sugar. Other films that he has produced include Little Birds, from writer/director Elgin James.

His documentary projects include Levitated Mass, by filmmaker Doug Pray, and Confessions of a Superhero, by director Matthew Ogens. In addition, he produced The Offseason, a documentary for HBO on NBA MVP Kevin Durant, as well as three documentaries for ESPN’s acclaimed “30 for 30” series: Straight Outta LA, directed by Ice Cube, The Day the Series Stopped, directed by Ryan Fleck, and Sole Man, directed by Jon Weinbach & Dan Marks. Mr. Patricof is currently in production on his fourth “30 for 30” documentary. 

DIANE MILLER LEVIN, p.g.a. (Producer)

A native of Los Angeles, Diane Miller Levin graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), where, as the University’s newspaper’s business manager, she ran The Daily Bruin with the paper’s editor-in-chief. She attained national recognition for her work at UCLA.

After graduation, she continued her career in the financial sector, working at Integrated Financial and other institutions with a specialty in closely-held corporations and pensions. She then transitioned to educational trusteeship for over a decade, overseeing capital campaigns, development, literary and social action programs, teen advocacy; and ensured future educational growth and sustainability by heading nominating and recruitment committees.

A lifelong literary devotee and believer in the power of storytelling, Ms. Levin co-optioned Diane Ackerman’s The Zookeeper’s Wife a decade ago and has seen the movie through to its worldwide release in 2017.

As an independent filmmaker, her mission statement is to make films which draw on history to inspire modern-day humanitarianism. She has scripted the feature film God Remembered Us, about Civil War heroine Clara Barton, adapted from the book A Woman of Valor by Stephen Oates.

KIM ZUBICK, p.g.a. (Producer)

Kim Zubick is an independent film and television producer, working under her banner Zubick Films.  She is particularly drawn to true stories, and spent most of her formative years in Europe, making The Zookeeper’s Wife a passion project for her over the past nine years.

Going forward, Ms. Zubick will produce Ben Bolea’s script The Miserable Adventures of Burt Squire with Liddell Entertainment. Later this year, she will produce the comedy The Last Real Cowboys, starring Billy Bob Thornton, directed by Jeff Lester. She is also executive-producing Seth Resnik’s television series The Sovereign Wild, in partnership with Charlize Theron’s production company Denver & Delilah.

Previously, Ms. Zubick was President of Production for Tollin Productions; for The Robert Simonds Company; and for Stewart Pictures.  She was a producer on such features as Ken Kwapis’ License to Wed, starring Robin Williams, Mandy Moore, and John Krasinski; and Raja Gosnell’s Yours, Mine & Ours, starring Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo. She also was part of the filmmaking team on such films as Steve Carr’s Rebound, starring Martin Lawrence; and Tim Story’s Taxi, starring Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon.

Prior to beginning her producing career, she was a studio executive at MGM during the tenure of Alan Ladd Jr., and was an agent with boutique literary agency The Roberts Company.

ANDRIJ PAREKH (Cinematographer)

Andrij Parekh studied cinematography at the FAMU film school in Prague and at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he received his MFA in 2003. He was nominated for the 1998 Eastman Excellence in Cinematography Award; and was the recipient of the 2001 and the 2003 American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Heritage Awards for Cinematography.

After apprenticing on James Gray’s The Yards with cinematographer Harris Savides, Mr. Parekh himself has been the cinematographer on nearly 20 films. He was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” and was cited by Variety as one its “10 Cinematographers to Watch.”

He was the cinematographer on Sophie Barthes’ features Cold Souls, for which he was a Spirit Award nominee, and Madame Bovary. Among the other features that Mr. Parekh has shot are Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck’s Half Nelson, Sugar, Mississippi Grind – all with The Zookeeper’s Wife producer Jamie Patricof – and It’s Kind of a Funny Story; Jessica Sharzer’s Speak, starring Kristen Stewart; Austin Chick’s August, starring Josh Hartnett; Oren Rudavsky’s The Treatment; Henry Bean’s Noise, starring Tim Robbins; Todd Solondz’s Dark Horse; Daniel Algrant’s Greetings from Tim Buckley; and Derek Cianfrance’s Blue Valentine, starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams.

He was the cinematographer on all six episodes of the critically applauded miniseries Show Me a Hero, directed by Paul Haggis, for which lead actor Oscar Isaac won a Golden Globe Award.

SUZIE DAVIES (Production Designer)

Suzie Davies was an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award nominee for her production design on Mike Leigh’s Mr. Turner, starring Timothy Spall. Her work on the film also brought her the 2015 Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s Artisan Award. She first collaborated with Mr. Leigh as production designer of his short film A Running Jump.

With a passion for design and its potential to complement the storytelling process, she began her career as a model maker and sculptor in the 1990s, and became an art director in different mediums including film and television. Among her most notable credits in the latter was the celebrated U.K. miniseries Tipping the Velvet, directed by Geoffrey Sax. As production designer, she would reteam with the latter director on the telefilms Christopher and His Kind and Murder on the Home Front; with Timothy Spall on Philippa Lowthorpe’s telefilm Cider with Rosie; and with Ms. Lowthorpe on the recent U.K. family feature Swallows and Amazons. She was the production designer on episodes of the U.K. television series Mad Dogs and Eternal Law that were directed by Adrian Shergold.

Ms. Davies has worked with crews from all over the world who have helped her realize her visions as production designer. Her current project is On Chesil Beach, adapted by Ian McEwan from his beloved novel. Directed by Dominic Cooke, the feature stars Saoirse Ronan, Billy Howle, Emily Watson, Samuel West, and Anne-Marie Duff.

In September 2014, Ms. Davies gave a lecture at The National Gallery in the U.K. on the Depiction of Colour in Film.

DAVID COULSON (Editor)

New Zealander David Coulson has edited five features directed by Niki Caro, including the Academy Award-nominated Whale Rider (for which he was a New Zealand Film and Television Award nominee), North Country, McFarland, USA, and now The Zookeeper’s Wife.

His feature work has brought Mr. Coulson the New Zealand Film and Television Award for Best Editing three times, for his work on Leon Narbey’s The Footstep Man and Illustrious Energy, and for editing Gregor Nicholas’ Broken English. The latter also brought him the Best Editing award at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival.

His television work includes Pacific 3, 2, 1, Zero, for which he again won a New Zealand Film and Television Award as well as the Best Work Conceived for the Camera prize at the Midem Awards in Cannes; and “Fortitude,” director Wayne Tourell’s episode of the Kurt Vonnegut’s Monkey House Series, which won three CableACE Awards. Mr. Coulson has edited several drama series and documentaries including Behind Closed Doors, which won the Blue Ribbon Award at the American Film and TV Festival, New York.  For his television commercial work, he has received New Zealand Advertising Gold, Silver, and Bronze Axis Editing Awards.

He has also edited many short films, including Zia Mandviwalla‘s multi-award-winning Night Shift; Sam Peacocke’s Manurewa, honored at the Berlin International Film Festival; Alison Maclean’s breakthrough Kitchen Sink, named Best Short Film at the Sydney Film Festival; and Gregor Nicholas’ acclaimed Rushes and Avondale Dogs.

 

DENISE KUM (Make-up and Hair Designer)

Denise Kum is reunited with The Zookeeper’s Wife director Niki Caro after several previous films together including North Country, Whale Rider, and Memory & Desire, all as make-up and hair designer.

Ms. Kum has twice won the New Zealand Film Award for Best Make-up and Hair, for her hair and make-up design of Christine Parker’s Channelling Baby and Mark Beesley’s Savage Honeymoon.

Among her other features as hair and make-up designer have been Gillian Armstrong’s Death Defying Acts, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Guy Pearce, and Saoirse Ronan; Brad McGann’s acclaimed In My Father’s Den, starring Matthew Macfadyen; and Sergio G. Sánchez’s recently completed Marrowbone, starring George MacKay and Anya Taylor-Joy.

Ms. Kum was make-up, hair, and prosthetics designer on two of the Spartacus television series; and, also for Starz and Renaissance Films, Sam Raimi’s premiere episode of Ash vs. Evil Dead.

She has done the make-up and/or hair on film shoots for individual actors, among them Judi Dench, Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance, Jack O’Connell, Marton Csokas, and Frances McDormand.

Ms. Kum has been part of the hair and make-up units on such movies as Joe Wright’s Pan; Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings; Rob Marshall’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides; and Morten Tyldum’s award-winning The Imitation Game.

She is currently at work as make-up, hair, and prosthetics designer on José Padilha’s upcoming 1976-set thriller about the Entebbe raid, starring Daniel Brühl of The Zookeeper’s Wife.

SABINE DAIGELER (Costume Designer)

After moving from her native Munich to Madrid, Sabine Daigeler’s early work in costume departments included stints on Bille August’s The House of the Spirits and Ridley Scott’s 1492: Conquest of Paradise.

Her first movie as costume designer was Juanma Bajo Ulloa’s Airbag. She has since gone on to design the costumes for, among other features, Pedro Almodóvar’s All About My Mother and Volver, both of which brought her Goya Award nominations; Joaquín Oristrell’s Inconscientes and Fernando Léon de Aranoa’s Princesas, both of which also brought her Goya Award nominations; Chus Gutiérrez’s Insomnio and Poniente; Christopher Hampton’s Imagining Argentina, starring Antonio Banderas and Emma Thompson; Mr. Banderas‘ El camino de los ingleses; Jordi Mollà’s No somos nadie; Luis Llosa’s The Feast of the Goat; Maria de Medeiros’ April Captains; Antón Reixa’s The Carpenter’s Pencil; Steven Soderbergh’s Che, both the first and second parts; Dominik Moll’s The Monk; and John Malkovich’s The Dancer Upstairs and Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Biutiful, both starring Javier Bardem.

Ms. Daigeler has returned to Germany to design the costumes for, among other features, Michael Herbig’s 2001 comedy Manitou’s Shoe, which became one of the country’s all-time top-grossing films; and Marie Noelle and Peter Sehr’s 2008 family drama The Anarchist’s Wife, for which she won a Gaudí Award.

She collaborated with Jim Jarmusch as costume designer on his films Only Lovers Left Alive and The Limits of Control.

Among Ms. Daigeler’s recent features as costume designer are Oliver Stone’s Snowden and Jonathan Jakubowicz’s Hands of Stone. She has completed work on Wim Wenders’ Submergence, starring Alicia Vikander and James McAvoy; and is at work on José Padilha’s untitled Entebbe project, starring Daniel Brühl of The Zookeeper’s Wife.

HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS (Music)

Harry Gregson-Williams’ film scores span genres while always evincing a distinctive musical style of emotional punch and atmospheric intensity.

He was the composer on all four blockbuster Shrek movies, garnering a BAFTA Award nomination for the original film’s score; and received Golden Globe and Grammy Award nominations for scoring Andrew Adamson’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

Born in England to a musical family, Mr. Gregson-Williams earned a music scholarship to St. John’s College, Cambridge at the age of seven and subsequently gained a coveted spot at London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama – from which he recently received an Honorary Fellowship. He then turned his attention to teaching, in England and then Egypt. He started his film career as assistant to composer Richard Harvey and later became orchestrator and arranger for another composer, Stanley Myers. His early film work included several features for director Nicolas Roeg.

Mr. Gregson-Williams’ collaboration and friendship with composer Hans Zimmer resulted in his providing music for such films as The Rock, Armageddon, and The Prince of Egypt, launching his career in Hollywood.

As composer, he has enjoyed extensive collaborations with directors including Ben Affleck, with Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and most recently Live by Night; Ridley Scott, on Kingdom of Heaven, Prometheus, and The Martian; Joel Schumacher, on Twelve, The Number 23, Veronica Guerin, and Phone Booth; Dan Ireland, on Jolene, Passionada, and The Whole Wide World; and Tony Scott, with Empire of the State, Spy Game, Man on Fire, Domino, Déjà Vu, The Taking of Pelham 123, and Unstoppable.

Mr. Gregson-Williams’ many other feature scores include Rick Famuyiwa’s telefilm Confirmation; Catherine Hardwicke’s Miss You Already; Michael Mann’s Blackhat; Antoine Fuqua’s The Equalizer and The Replacement Killers; Andrew Adamson’s The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian; David Bowers and Sam Fell’s animated adventure Flushed Away; Trey Parker & Matt Stone’s animated epic Team America: World Police; the unique documentary Life in a Day; Bille August’s Return to Sender and Smilla’s Sense of Snow; and DreamWorks Animation’s first feature, Antz, directed by Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson.

He has scored three of the five games in the highly successful Metal Gear Solid franchise for Konami; and scored Call of Duty for Activision, the top-selling video game of 2014, which earned him various music gaming awards.

Mr. Gregson-Williams is a mentor at the Sundance Composers Lab, where he works with talented emerging composers from all over the world.

The Zookeeper’s Wife

Cast

Antonina Żabińska JESSICA CHASTAIN

Jan Żabiński JOHAN HELDENBERGH

Lutz Heck DANIEL BRÜHL

Ryszard Żabiński (Younger) TIMOTHY RADFORD

Magda Gross EFRAT DOR

Maurycy Fraenkel IDDO GOLDBERG

Urszula SHIRA HAAS

Jerzyk MICHAEL McELHATTON

Ryszard Żabiński (Older) VAL MALOKU

Regina Kenigswein MARTHA ISSOVÁ

Samuel Kenigswein DANIEL RATIMORSKÝ

Miecio Kenigswein FREDERICK PRESTON

Stefcio Kenigswein THEODORE PRESTON

Stefania Keningswein VIKTORIA ZAKHARYANOVÁ

Mr. Kinszerbaum GORAN KOSTIĆ

Dr. Janusz Korczak ARNOŠT GOLDFLAM

Stefan MARIÁN MITAŠ

Szymon Tenenbaum MARTIN HOFMANN

Pietrasia JITKA SMUTNÁ

Dr. Ziegler WALDERMAR KOBUS

Teresa Żabińska (2 years old) VIKTORIE JENÍČKOVÁ

Teresa Żabińska (9 months old) ADIRA B. COLE ABBETT

Teresa Żabińska (Baby) HANA PINĎUROVÁ

Mr. Keller SLAVKO SOBIN

Marysia Aszer ALENA MIHULOVÁ

Roza Anzelowna NATAŠA BURGER

Roza’s Mother HANA FREJKOVÁ

Wanda Englert MAGDALENA LAMPARSKA

Zofia Kossak VILMA FRANTOVÁ

Janina Rabbe MAGDALÉNA SIDONOVÁ

Eugenia Wasowska ESTER KOČIČKOVÁ

Wanda Filipowicz PETRA BUČKOVÁ

Senior German Officer ROMAN VEJDOVEC

German Soldier #1 ROMAN HORÁK

Ghetto Gate #1 Guard LADISLAV HAMPL

Ghetto Gate #2 Guard VÁCLAV NEUŽIL

Ghetto Soldier #1 BRIAN CASPE

Ghetto Soldier #2 JAKUB ŠMÍD

Smoking German Soldier #1 GABRIEL COHEN

Smoking German Soldier #2 JOSEF GURUNCZ

German Officer #2 JAROMÍR NOSEK

Warsaw Resident #1 MILIANA LENAK

Warsaw Resident #2 JAN SLOVÁK

Rabbi #1 JAROSLAV HAIDLER

Rabbi #2 RABBI MICHAEL DUSHINSKY

Rabbi #3 RABBI SHUMI BERKOWITZ

Young Resistance Fighter DANIEL SIDON

Woman Sniper ANNA FIALOVÁ

Sniper Instructor MAREK HULA

Polish Photographer HARRY THOMPSON

Photographer’s Girlfriend ŠTĚPÁNKA FINGERHUTOVÁ

German Soldier Buying Magazine JAKUB KOUDELA

Teenage Boy #1 ELIÁŠ BAUER

Teenage Boy #2 NATAN TAČEVSKI

Teenage Boy #3 JOSEF HAVRDA

Stunt Coordinators ANTJE RAU

LUDĚK JELEN

Assistant Stunt Coordinator JAN BÖHME

Stunt Players KAREL BASÁK

STANISLAV BEZOUŠKA

ROMAN BOHÁČ

KLÁRA COUFALOVÁ

ROBIN DOLEŽAL

RADEK KAŠPAR

JAN LUPÁČ

RADIM PAVELKA

PAVEL PEČENKA

MARCELA PIKNOVÁ

JAN POLÁK

PETR PTÁČEK

LUBOMÍR SOTULÁŘ

JAROSLAV STICH

MARCEL TESAŘ

FILIP ZAFOUK

ONDŘEJ ZITA

| Crew and Credits |

|Directed by NIKI CARO |

|Written by ANGELA WORKMAN |

|Based on the Book by DIANE ACKERMAN |

|Produced by JEFF ABBERLEY, p.g.a. |

|Produced by JAMIE PATRICOF, p.g.a. |

|Produced by DIANE MILLER LEVIN, p.g.a. |

|KIM ZUBICK, p.g.a. |

|Executive Producer MARC BUTAN |

|Executive Producers ROBBIE ROWE TOLLIN |

|MIKE TOLLIN |

|Executive Producers JESSICA CHASTAIN |

|KEVAN VAN THOMPSON |

|Executive Producers MICKEY LIDDELL |

|PETE SHILAIMON |

|JENNIFER MONROE |

|Cinematographer ANDRIJ PAREKH |

|Production Designer SUZIE DAVIES |

|Editor DAVID COULSON |

|Make-up and Hair Designer DENISE KUM |

|Costume Designer SABINE DAIGELER |

|Visual Effects Supervisor ROBERT GRASMERE |

|Music by HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS |

|Music Supervisor GABE HILFER |

|Co-Producer KATIE McNEILL |

|Casting by ELAINE GRAINGER |

|MAYA KVETNY |

| |

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|First Assistant Director PHIL BOOTH |

| |

| |

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|Post-Production Supervisor LIZ RICHARDS |

| |

| |

| |

|FOR SCION FILMS |

|Executive Producers JULIA BLACKMAN |

|JOANNE SENNITT |

|Development Coordinator BRONWYN GRIFFITHS |

|Production Assistants BEVERLEY REID |

|STEFAN ABBERLEY |

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|First Assistant Director DAVID STRANGMULLER |

|Second Assistant Director TOM MULBERGE |

|Second Assistant Director (Crowd) LUCIE BURIANOVÁ |

|Second Second Assistant Director DANIELA PAULOVÁ |

|Third Assistant Directors HONZA MUSIL |

|MAREK MATOUŠEK |

|Additional Crowd Assistant Directors VÁCLAV KASALICKÝ |

|JIŘÍ LAŠTOVIČKA |

|ZUZANA TICHÁ |

|Costume Fitting Coordinator Assistant Director TEREZA KNAUEROVA |

|Set Production Assistants REMCO GROENENDIJK |

|HARRY THOMPSON |

|MICHAL BERKA |

|Lock-up MARTIN FLÉGR |

| Production Manager ZUZANA MESTICOVÁ |

|Unit Manager KLÁRA BOTLÍKOVÁ |

|Production Coordinator MARKÉTA DUCHKOVÁ |

|Assistant Production Coordinator KAMILA KONEČNÁ |

|Production Assistant LUCIE ČALKOVSKÁ |

|Production Office Assistant VERONIKA NEUBAUEROVÁ |

|Researcher MARKÉTA TOM |

|Clearance Supervisor KLÁRA VARADI |

|Visa Assistant TEREZA LISTIKOVÁ |

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|Script Supervisor VĚRA HOMOLÁČOVÁ |

| Supervising Art Director DAN TAYLOR |

|Assistant Art Director JANE BRODIE |

|Art Department Coordinator MARIJA NIKOLIČ |

|Standby Art Director MAGDALENA ZEMANOVÁ |

|Graphic Designer ALICE “RUSALKA” LINHARTOVÁ |

|Storyboard Artist PETR HEROLD |

|Draughtsmen DAVID VONDRÁŠEK |

|LUKAS VYTISK |

|PATRIK STAŠEK |

|PETR GRIG |

|Art Department Assistants MARTINA SMUTNÁ |

|STELLA ŠONKOVÁ |

| Set Decorator CHARLOTTE WATTS |

|Assistant Set Decorator SOFIE OTHMANOVÁ |

|Leadman ALEŠ JETMAR |

|Set Dressers MICHAL ŠILAR |

|JIRKA NOVÁK |

|MARTIN RUS |

|JAKUB WŮDY |

|Buyer DAVID ČERNÝ |

| Property Master DAVID FRYŠ |

|Prop Buyer MAREK MÜLLER |

|Store Manager RADEK ŠUŠLÍK |

|Standby Props LUKAS KATAKALIDIS |

|JOSEF BORIK |

| Assistant Costume Designer DANIELA BACKES |

|Costume Supervisors STEFANIE BIEKER |

|SABINE WASZMER |

|Wardrobe Supervisor LENKA KOUTKOVÁ |

|Costume Coordinator DARIA ŠŤASTNÁ |

|Key Set Costumer CHRISTINA MOLITOR |

|Costumer to Ms. Chastain STÁŇA ŠLOSSEROVÁ |

|Costumer PETR KOUTEK |

|Set Costumers OLGA MICHÁLKOVÁ |

|KLÁRA SYRŮČKOVÁ |

|JANA KŘÍŽKOVÁ |

|Crowd Set Costumers SUSE NIEDERGALL |

|MARIA THERESIA BARTL |

|Additional Costumers PATRICIE ŠOPTÉNKOVÁ |

|NAĎA CHRÁSTOVÁ |

|BETTINA VON AUW |

|KAREL BOČEK |

|Tailor LADISLAV POTMĚŠIL |

|Costumes Cutter CHRISTIAN KRATZERT |

|Seamstresses DAGMAR HRACHOVCOVÁ |

|HELENA MALIČKOVÁ |

|EMILIE PAVLUSOVÁ |

|OLDŘIŠKA VAŘEKOVÁ |

|Breakdown/Ager Artist KATALINA ITURRALDE |

|Breakdown Artist/Dyer TEREZIE HONSOVÁ |

|Seamstress Assistant & Interpreter KAROLÍNA SLABOCHOVÁ |

|Assistants to Costumers FILIP HLAVÁČEK |

|MATĚJ PIKOUS |

|Costumes Interns MARIANNA FAVERO |

|KRISTÝNA KUHNOVÁ |

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|Military Uniforms Advisor HARRY FAKNER |

| Make-up Artist to Ms. Chastain LINDA DOWDS |

|Hair Stylist to Ms. Chastain FRANCESCO ALBERICO |

|Key Make-up & Hair Artist LESLEY SMITH |

|Make-up & Hair Artists IVANA NĚMCOVÁ |

|KATHRYN FA |

|SIMONA HEMMYOVÁ |

|RADEK PETR |

|Make-up & Hair Trainee MATYLDA SMOLÍKOVÁ Makeup & Hair Intern PILAR GAVILÀN ZURITA |

|Background Make-up & Hair MARTINA MRAZOVÁ |

|RADKA VAVROVÁ |

|KATERIN VAVROVÁ – VOJKŮVKOVA |

|JIŘINA JETMAROVÁ |

|JANA ZAHRADNICKOVÁ |

|PETR FADRHONC |

|Background Make-up & Hair Trainee ZUZANA HUBINGEROVÁ |

|Wigmaker RAY MARSTON |

| Camera Operator RACHAEL LEVINE |

|“A” Camera First Assistant Camera ADAM VEJVODA |

|“A” Camera Second Assistant Camera MAREK HAVEL |

|“B” Camera First Assistant Camera PETR "PIŠTA" ZAVŘEL |

|“B” Camera Second Assistant Camera JAN CIBOCH |

|MATĚJ KOVÁRNÍK |

|“B” Camera Focus Puller ONDŘEJ KOS |

|‘C” Camera First Assistant Camera JIŘÍ VÁGNER |

|“C” Camera Second Assistant Camera MAXIM STANO |

|DIT JAN TOMÁŠEK |

|Video Operators ONDŘEJ NAHODIL |

|FILIP OSTRÝ |

|Cableman PETR KULLÁK |

| |

|Still Photographers ANNE MARIE FOX |

|DUSAN MARTINCEK |

| Production Sound Mixer PETR ČECHÁK |

|Boom Operators ROMAN RIGO |

|KAREL JAHELKA |

|2nd Boom Operator/Cableman LUKÁŠ GUDERNA |

| |

|Sound Re-Recording Mixers |

|ANNA BEHLMER |

|TERRY PORTER |

| First Assistant Editor/Visual Effects Editor JONNY WINOGRAD |

|Assistant Editor DANIELA OVI |

|Editorial PA MARISSA SPENCER |

| Supervising Sound Editor BECKY SULLIVAN, MPSE |

| |

|Sound Effects Editors JAY WILKINSON |

|DAN HEGEMAN |

|Dialogue Editor DARREN “SUNNY” WARKENTIN, MPSE |

|Foley Mixers GEORDY SINCAVAGE |

|RYAN WASSIL |

|Foley Artists TARA BLUME |

|RICK OWENS |

|Foley Editor ROBERT CABALLERO |

|First Assistant Sound Editor GAYLE WESLEY |

| Financial Controller PETER EARDLEY |

|Production Accountant EVA NIETSCHOVÁ |

|Assistant Accountant KATEŘINA ŠOPTÉNKOVÁ |

|Payroll Assistant PETR KAVÁLEK |

|Cashier ALENA HOLUBOVÁ |

|Post-Production Accountant TALIA MAYNARD |

|Post-Production Assistant Accountant JOANNE COOPER |

| Gaffer PETR KONRÁD |

|Best Boy Electric PETR ČEJKA Generator Operator |

|Electricians PAVEL DOBROVOLNÝ |

|ALEŠ KOHOUT |

|MARTIN REK |

|JOSEF GUBÁNI |

|JAN DĚDEK |

|MARTIN ZOBÁK |

|MIROSLAV ŠVANDA |

|JAN FOLTÝN |

|JIŘÍ GUBÁNÍ |

|Rigging Gaffers PETR “BERTA” ŠULC |

|DAN KUTAJ |

|JAN STRNAD |

| Key Grip PAVEL PROISL |

|Best Boy Grip PETR GRANILLA |

|Rigging Grip TOMÁŠ VANĚČEK |

|Grips VÁCLAV CHLÁDEK |

|DAVID SKUPIEN |

|MICHAL JAVŮREK |

| Special Effects Supervisors MARTIN KULHÁNEK |

|JAKUB NIEROSTEK |

|Special Effects Technicians MARTIN MOTL |

|STANISLAV ŠMERAL |

|TOMÁŠ LORENC |

|ALOIS VYSLAN |

|DAVID MYSLÍK |

|MARTIN SIXTA |

|Special Effects Dental Technician CHRIS LYONS |

|Special Effects Prosthetics CHRIS FITZPATRICK |

|Animal Prosthetics JOSEF RARACH |

|VLAD TAUPEŠ |

|ZDAR ŠORM |

| Construction BARRANDOV STUDIO A.S. |

|FILM DEKOR S.R.O. |

|FANČÍK S.R.O. |

|STAVDEKOR S.R.O. |

|WOOD CONSTRUCTION S.R.O. |

|Standby Construction JIŘÍKA BOUDA |

|PETR ŠÁLEK |

|PETR ŠINDELA |

|DOMINIK NEKOLNÝ |

|FILIP HAMZA |

|Crane Operator TOMÁŠ SOUČEK |

|Metal Work SEDLDEKOR S.R.O. |

|Greens FRANTIŠEK ČUPITA |

| Location Manager KRISTÝNA HANUŠOVÁ |

|Assistant Location Managers FILIP GROHMAN |

|TEREZA POSPÍŠILOVÁ |

| Casting Associate (U.K.) EMMA GUNNERY |

|Extras Casting FRANTIŠEK PETRÁK |

|Extras Casting (Minors) JITKA FLEISHERNSLOVÁ |

| |

|Dialogue Coach JOAN WASHINGTON |

| Assistant to Ms. Caro MAGDALENA VAVRUŠOVÁ |

|Assistant to Ms. Chastain DANIELLE PIZZORNI |

|Assistant to Mr. Heldenbergh & Mr. Brühl ADÉLA GRÁFOVÁ |

|Assistants to the Producers BARBORA ZELENKOVÁ |

|OLGA SOBOTKOVÁ |

|KELSEY LEW |

|Piano Instructors for Ms. Chastain ANDREA VAVRUŠOVÁ |

|ROBERT GROHMAN |

|Stand-Ins ANASTAZIA DROBIK |

|LIBOR KOKEŠ |

|MARTIN ZADA |

|TOMÁŠ SIEGEL |

| Transportation Coordinator KAREL MICHÁLEK |

|Transportation Captain KRISTÝNA CHALUPOVÁ |

|Drivers JAN ŠRŮTA |

|DAVID PÝCHA |

|MICHAL PLUSKAL |

|PAVEL RADOŠ |

|PETR BLAŽEK |

|JAN JURSA |

|TOMÁŠ GOLDBERGER |

|RADEK OSTRÝ |

|JAROSLAV ŠROUB |

|JAROSLAV TROJÁČEK |

|MIROSLAV HOLÝ |

|JAROSLAV CÍRKVA |

|JAROSLAV MIKULA |

|FRANTIŠEK VENCL |

|TOMÁŠ BURSÍK |

|Honeywagon MICHAL GREŽĎO |

|Trailer Drivers RADEK NOVOTNÝ |

|LADISLAV VOKOUN |

|JAROSLAV KOSICKÝ |

|Minibus Drivers MARTIN KOLENO |

|ZBYŠEK SVATOŠ |

|VLADISLAV KOUTEK |

|LADISLAV BALOUŠ |

|Picture Vehicles Coordinator HYNEK SVOBODA |

|Base Camp Technicians PETR KOMÁREK |

|PETR HOŘEJŠÍ |

|VOJTA ZÁRUBA |

|PAVEL BERAN |

|JIŘÍ RÁDR |

|Base Camp Genny VÁCLAV LOS |

| Animal Coordinator IVANA DRAGOUNOVÁ |

|Animal Handlers LUDVÍK BEROUSEK |

|HELENA CYNKOVÁ |

|Animal Handler (Bisons) ANTONÍN ŠIMEK |

|Animal Handlers (Elephants) ROLAND SPINDLER |

|HYNEK NAVRÁTIL |

|Animal Handler (Hippo) JAN RINGEL |

|Animal Handler (Polar Bears) JAROSLAV KÁŇA |

|Veterinarians DUŠAN USVALD |

|ROMAN VODIČKA |

|LUKÁŠ PAVLAČÍK |

|Animal Unit Interpreter PETR HNÍK |

| Armory Supervisor FRANTIŠEK MĚSÍČEK |

|Key Armorer MARTIN MACÍK |

|Marksman SLÁVEK NOVOTNÝ |

|Health & Safety Advisor PETR TLACHAČ |

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|Set Medics DANIEL VALÍČEK |

|DANIEL MURAJEV |

|ROMANA SMOLÍKOVÁ |

|KATEŘINA ŠPIČKOVÁ |

|ALEX ZÁRUBOVÁ |

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|Unit Publicist CERIS PRICE |

|EPK JANA POČTOVÁ |

| Historical Advisor PAVEL HERVÍŘ |

| Catering by GS PEPPERONCINO |

|Caterers VALENTIN PERETS |

|SVĚTLANA PERETS |

|VASIL POLJAK |

|LÍDA POLJAK |

|LUDA POLJAK |

|NATÁLIE JANOUŠKOVÁ |

|Personal Chef to Ms. Chastain JORDAN WALLACE |

|SECOND UNIT CREW |

|Second Unit Director ROBERT GRASMERE |

|Unit Manager KRISTÝNA PŘIKRYLOVÁ |

|Production Assistant MARTINA PAVLÍČKOVÁ |

|Set Production Assistants DIMITRYI LENDYEL |

|TEREZA HAVLEOVÁ |

|First Assistant Directors MICHAELA STRNADOVÁ |

|FRANTIŠEK REZEK |

|PETR KADEŘÁBEK |

|TOMÁŠ OBERMAIER |

|OLDŘICH MACH |

|DAVID JANČAR |

|Second Assistant Director JAKUB HEMALA |

|Director of Photography JIŘÍ MÁLEK |

|Additional Director of Photography GAŠPER ŠNUDER |

|Focus Puller PAVEL “SMOKER” KUŘÁK |

|“A” Camera First Assistant Camera MARTIN VOTRUBA |

|LUBOR RÝDL |

|“A” Camera Second Assistant Camera DAVID VIKTORA |

|FILIP LANGENBERGER |

|Production Sound Mixers ROBERT DUFEK |

|ROBERT SLEZÁK |

|Boom Operator ROBERT GUMALA |

|DIT ŠTĚPÁN SVOBODA |

|Video Playback HOSHEEN AL RASHY |

|Gaffers JAN MATĚJKA |

|JAN BALÁN |

|TOMÁŠ BALÁN |

|Grips JIŘÍ GAŽDA |

|MICHAL JAVŮREK |

|Script Supervisor PAVLA ŠUBERTOVÁ |

|Standby Art Director JAN KALOUS |

|Property Master HONZA ZABEL |

|Catering by CATERING MATOUŠ |

|Caterer ROSŤA BĚLOHLÁVEK |

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| On-Set Dailies Provided by UPP |

|Dailies Producer IVO MARÁK |

|Dailies Supervisor MIROSLAV SOCHOR |

|Dailies Colorist MARTIN SOVA |

|Chief Technician TOMÁŠ PULC |

|Data Wrangler MATĚJ PASTRNEK |

| ADR Mixers TRAVIS MACKAY |

|BOBBY JOHANSON |

|JUDAH GETZ |

|NILS FAUTH |

|ADR Recorded at WILDFIRE SONIC MAGIC |

|HARBOR PICTURE COMPANY |

|TECHNICOLOR AT PARAMOUNT |

|PISTE ROUGE |

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|Re-Recording Mix Tech ERIC FLICKENGER |

|Additional Audio JOHN BIRES |

|MATT REIDENBACH |

|KIMBERLY JIMENEZ |

|ADR Voice Casting BARBARA HARRIS |

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|Sound Services provided by TECHNICOLOR AT PARAMOUNT |

|Sound Editing and Design Services provided by NBC UNIVERSAL STUDIOPOST |

|Dolby Stereo Consultant JIM WRIGHT |

| Feature Post Finishing by EFILM |

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|Supervising Digital Colorist TIM STIPAN |

|Digital Intermediate Producer WAYNE ADAMS |

|Digital Intermediate Editor DEVON MILLER |

|Digital Intermediate Color Assist JAKE KING |

|Digital Opticals PATRICK CLANCEY |

|VP Imaging Science JOACHIM ZELL |

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| Titles Designed by MATT CURTIS |

| Visual Effects Producer RAOUL YORKE BOLOGNINI |

|Visual Effects Production Manager WAH LINH KEAN |

|Visual Effects Production Assistant LIZ DELLAPENNA |

|Visual Effects Management by TEMPRIMENTAL FILMS, INC. |

|Visual Effects by |

|UPP |

|Visual Effects Supervisor VIKTOR MÜLLER |

|Visual Effects Producers LENKA LÍKAŘOVÁ |

|VIKTOR MÜLLER |

|VÍT KOMRZÝ |

|Visual Effects Production Manager JAROSLAV MATYS |

|Bidding Manager TOMÁŠ PAVLIS |

|Visual Effects Production Coordinator PETRA RYGLOVÁ |

|Visual Effects Assistant Production Office Coordinator TOMÁŠ VONDRÁŠEK |

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|Head of 2D Department TOMÁŠ KALHOUS |

|2D Compositing Supervisor DENNIS DALLEN ERIC J. ROBERTSON |

|2D Senior Compositors ŠTĚPÁN BATOUŠEK |

|ZOLTÁN BOJTOS |

|ATTILA POLGAR |

|PETRA ŠVÁBKOVÁ |

|2D Compositors LUKÁŠ ABRAHÁM |

|LIUDMYLA CHORNA |

|JAROSLAV ČÍŽEK |

|SILVIA DEBNÁROVÁ |

|LUKÁŠ DVOŘÁČEK |

|LEVENT HASEKI |

|NIKOLETT HAUX |

|RODIONS JEPEJEVS |

|HELENA KESLOVÁ |

|CYRIL KOTECKÝ |

|ARMEN MAILYAN |

|NAOKI OYAGI |

|CSABA PEPP |

|JAN PROCHÁZKA |

|KATEŘINA SLABÁ |

|FILIP STANOVSKÝ |

|MICHAEL STŘECHA |

|JOSEF ŠVRČEK |

|JANA ŠVERMOVÁ |

|BALINT VAJDA |

|DAVID VÁŇA |

|PETR VČELIČKA |

|ZDENĚK URBAN |

|CGI Supervisor PETR MAREK |

|3D Senior Artists ALEŠ DLABAČ |

|PAVEL KOLÁŘ |

|TOMÁŠ ROTH |

|3D Artists/Animators ACHBERGER HENRICH |

|ALARCON SERGIO |

|ANDRII BELSKI |

|JAN BOHÁČEK |

|ANDREJ OTEPKA |

|JOSEF ŠÍMA |

|MICHAL TURKOWSKI |

|DAMIAN ZAPRUCKI |

|Matchmove Department VÁCLAV KOSTUŇ |

|VÁCLAV UHLÍŘ |

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|Head of Matte Painting LUKÁŠ HERRMANN |

|Matte Painting Senior Artists ANTONÍN KOLMAN |

|GABRIELA KOUBSKÁ |

|JIŘÍ ŠTAMFEST |

|Matte Painting Artists MICHAL ČAVOJ |

|FILIP ČERNÝ |

|LUKÁŠ LANCKO |

|MICHAL TOPOL |

|Data Operators MILOŠ HUDEC |

|JIŘÍ ŠABATA |

|Visual Effects Editor (UPP) MICHAL ČECH |

|Head of Visual Effects Technical Support PETR JONÁK |

|Orchestra Conducted by |

|HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS |

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|Music Editor SHERRY WHITFIELD |

|Additional Music STEPHANIE ECONOMOU |

|Orchestrator KIRK BENNETT |

|Orchestration Coordinator ESTHER McINTOSH |

|Pro Tools Recordist PAUL THOMASON |

|Music Production Coordination MONICA ZIERHUT |

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|Score Recorded by PETER COBBIN |

|Orchestra Recorded at ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS, LONDON |

|Score Editor KIRSTY WHALLEY |

|Score Recording Engineer TOBY HULBERT |

|Assistant Score Recording Engineer MATT JONES |

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|Score Mixed by AL CLAY |

|Score Mix Assistant ALVIN WEE |

|Score Mixed at THE VILLAGE RECORDER, WEST L.A. |

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|Orchestra Contractor ISOBEL GRIFFITHS |

|Assistant Orchestra Contractor JO CHANGER |

|Music Preparation BOOKER WHITE & JILL STREATER |

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|Guitar VIVIAN MILANOVA |

|Solo Woodwinds CHARLES ADELPHIA |

|Cello CAROLINE DALE |

|Vocals STEPHANIE ECONOMOU |

|Music Score Produced and Published by ATLANTIC SCREEN SCORES LTD. |

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|“CONTINENTAL BOUNCE” “PASSE LOINTAIN OP. 72 #17” |

|Written by Hans Zander Written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky |

|Courtesy of APM Music Performed by Jessica Chastain |

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|“PIANO SONATA NO. 1, 2nd MOVEMENT, OP. 2” |

|Written by Ludwig Van Beethoven |

|Performed by Jessica Chastain |

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|“THE SWAN” “PARS POUR LA CRÊTE (LA BELLE HÉLÈNE)” |

|Written by Camille Saint-Saëns Written by Jacques Offenbach |

|Performed by Jessica Chastain Performed by Andrea Vavrusova |

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|“PIANO SONATA NO. 18 IN D, 2nd MOVEMENT” |

|Written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart |

|Performed by Andrea Vavrusova |

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|Soundtrack Album available through Filmtrax distributed by BFD/Sony RED |

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| Produced in Association with LIDDELL ENTERTAINMENT |

|Czech Tax Credit Financing provided by SCION INVESTMENT FINANCING |

|Production Loan Financing provided by APERTURE MEDIA PARTNERS |

|JARED D. UNDERWOOD |

|ANDREW C. ROBINSON |

|Production Services provided by CZECH ANGLO PRODUCTIONS S.R.O. |

|VÁCLAV MOTTL |

| Production Counsel SHEPPARD MULLIN RICHTER & HAMPTON LLP |

|ROBERT DARWELL |

|NICOLE BAGOOD |

|MARCOS VERGARA DEL CARRIL |

|STACEY DOLLARHIDE |

|MORGAN SLOANE |

|ROSE BURBANK |

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|HARBOTTLE & LEWIS LLP |

|ALAN MOSS |

|SARAH LAZARIDES |

| |

|Script Clearances by MEDIA SCRIPT CHECKS |

|Payroll Services by CAST & CREW ENTERTAINMENT |

|Insurance Services provided by ROBERTSON TAYLOR |

|DEREK TOWNSHEND |

|DIANN PETERSON |

|Completion Guaranty provided by FILM FINANCES, INC. |

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|The Filmmakers’ Special Thanks to |

|RYSZARD ŻABIŃSKI |

|TERESA ŻABIŃSKA |

|MichaŁ Wawrykiewicz |

|JULIA ABBERLEY |

|SOPHIE ABBERLEY |

|KELLY SAWYER PATRICOF |

|LYNETTE HOWELL TAYLOR |

|ANDREW LISTER |

|JON LEVIN |

|SANDRA LUCCHESI |

|SOPHY HOLODNIK |

|PETER KUJAWSKI |

|JOSH McLAUGHLIN |

|BILL WOHLKEN |

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|Additional Thanks to |

|wARSAW zOO pRAGUE ZOO |

|JACKSONVILLE ZOO & GARDENS |

|THE wildlife conservation society |

|REBECCA ARZOIAN SAM HANSON BETH LEMBERGER GENE KANG |

|Peter Schlessel LIA BUMAN JEB BRODY |

|LAURA KAVANAUGH ALEX JOOSS WAI-LAN LAM |

|ZACK CONROY CHRIS SPICER VANESSA ROMAN D’ARCY CONRIQUE |

|JONATHAN KIER DON HARDISON KENDRA DOUSETTE |

|MATT WARREN HELEN SAM HUNTER RODRIGUEZ |

|KATHERINE McTiernan |

|SIMON FAWCETT MICHAEL LEE JACKSON |

|Tomas Schollaert PIERSTONE |

|JO ROGERS STELLA SCOTT RICHARD WHITFIELD |

|THE JEWISH HISTORICAL INSTITUTE TERESA ŚMIECHOWSKA MICHAŁ CZAJKA |

|MUSEUM OF HUNTING & RIDING, WARSAW EMILIA BZICKA |

|NATIONAL LIBRARY OF POLAND MONIKA MICHALSK |

|MUZEUM NARODOWE, WARSAW |

|DOROTA WYSPIANSKA |

|ABIGAIL & JULIA FREEDOM PR |

|M.A.C. |

|BOBBI BROWN |

|Camera Equipment provided by |

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|Lighting Equipment provided by RIGHT LIGHT |

|Grip Equipment provided by ARRI |

|THE WELFARE AND SAFETY OF ALL ANIMALS |

|PRESENT ON SET DURING FILMING |

|WAS CONSTANTLY MONITORED. |

|FILMED IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC WITH INCENTIVES |

|FROM CZECH CINEMATOGRAPHY FUND |

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|NO. 50083 |

|[pic] |

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|THIS MOTION PICTURE IS A DRAMATIZATION |

|BASED ON CERTAIN REAL EVENTS. |

|SOME NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED AND SOME OF THE EVENTS AND CHARACTERS FICTIONALIZED FOR DRAMATIC PURPOSES. |

| |

|THIS MOTION PICTURE IS PROTECTED UNDER THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND OTHER COUNTRIES. UNAUTHORIZED DUPLICATION, |

|DISTRIBUTION OR EXHIBITION MAY RESULT IN CIVIL LIABILITY AND CRIMINAL PROSECUTION. |

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|Copyright © 2017 ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE LP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. |

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|Running Time: 126 minutes |

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|MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for thematic elements, |

|disturbing images, violence, brief sexuality, nudity, and smoking) |

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|Facebook:/TheZookeepersWife |

|Twitter: @Zookeepers Instagram: @TheZookeepersWife |

|#TheZookeepersWife  |

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The Zookeeper’s Wife

Background: Poland Before and During WWII

• By late 1938 there were an estimated 3.3 million Jewish residents of Poland, constituting 10% of the Polish population – the largest Jewish population in any European country except the Soviet Union.

• In 1939, as Germany’s troops invaded Poland, there were an estimated 375,000 Jewish residents in Warsaw, or nearly one-third of the city's population. It is also estimated that at this time only New York City had more Jewish residents than Warsaw.

• Polish was increasingly spoken by young Warsaw Jews. However, during the school year of 1937–1938 in Poland there were 226 elementary schools, 12 high schools, and 14 vocational schools with either Yiddish or Hebrew as the instructional language.

• The Jewish sociocultural scene was particularly vibrant in pre–World War II Poland, with over 100 periodicals and an active Yiddish culture including theater and films.

• Under the influence of the Endecja Party after 1935 and with the shadow of Nazi Germany growing, anti-Semitism gathered new momentum in Poland. The introduction of “Ghetto benches” and unofficial or semi-quota systems drove the Jews down to only 7.5% of the Polish universities student bodies. Jews were barred from many occupations including government bureaucracy. Jobless Jews, and those who worked at home or in small shops due to discrimination, were excluded from welfare benefits.

• Jewish workers were gradually prevented from joining trade unions and so founded their own.

• 130,000 soldiers of Jewish descent served in the Polish Army at the outbreak of the Second World War, thus being among the first to launch armed resistance against the Nazi Germany. Of the estimated 61,000 taken prisoner by the Germans, the majority did not survive; surviving soldiers and non-commissioned officers found themselves in the Nazi labor camps and ghettos.

• Millions of Polish citizens perished during WWII; many were killed at the six Nazi extermination camps or died of starvation and disease in the ghettos.

• Poland and the territories to the East occupied by Germany were where the Nazis’ genocidal “Final Solution” was implemented because this was where a majority of Europe’s Jews resided. The ghettos were established in 1939-40, almost immediately following the invasion of Poland. The Nazi death camps became the means of murder, and went operational beginning in December 1941; Treblinka was opened on July 22, 1942. Between July 23 and September 21, 1942, at least 265,000 Jews were deported from Warsaw to Treblinka – including child education pioneer and pediatrician Dr. Januscz Korczak – and were all gassed upon arrival.

• All Jews in German-occupied Poland were forced to register with the government, with stamped ID cards, and by 1941 all except children were forced to wear armbands bearing a blue Star of David.

• Nazi Germany made no attempt to set up a collaborationist government in the invaded Poland; there was no Polish government at all, but there was a media campaign waged against the Jews. Nazi Germany annexed western Poland and occupied central Poland, while until June 1941 eastern Poland was occupied by Soviet forces.

• Many who were sympathetic to the Jews were too afraid to help them; unique to occupied Poland, disproportionate Nazi retribution would often include not just death to a sympathizer but also to his/her family and even neighbors. The Germans implemented a law that forbade Poles from buying in Jewish shops; if they did, they were subject to execution. Poland was the only occupied country during WWII where the Nazis formally imposed the death penalty for anybody found sheltering and helping Jews.

• In spite of those measures, Poland has the highest number of Righteous Among the Nations awards (6,339) at the Yad Vashem Museum. The London-based National Council of the Polish Government in Exile was the first (in November 1942) to reveal the existence of Nazi-run concentration camps, and was also the only government to set up an organization (Żegota) specifically aimed at helping the Jews in Poland.

Background: The Warsaw Ghetto

• The Warsaw Ghetto was imposed on October 16, 1940. The ghettos were ordered for the confinement of Jews, and the Warsaw Ghetto was the largest in all of World War II, with 380,000 people crammed within three months into an area of 1.3 square miles. An estimated 110,000 Poles were forcibly evicted from the area where Jews were forcibly resettled.

• The Germans closed off the Ghetto from the outside world, building a wall around it on November 16, 1940. Jews from smaller cities and villages continued to be brought into the Warsaw Ghetto, even as diseases (particularly typhoid) and starvation killed many in the Ghetto.

• There was no armed resistance during the 1942 deportations of over 265,000 Jews from Warsaw to Treblinka, since the latter’s nature as a killing center was not yet known – and since Ghetto inhabitants feared that the Nazis would retaliate by destroying the entire Ghetto.

• On January 18, 1943, a group of Ghetto militants including members of both the right-leaning ŻZW (Jewish Military Union) and the left-leaning ŻOB (Jewish Combat Organization), attacked German soldiers who were there to “thin out” the Ghetto by deporting more Jews. The deportation was halted, and the Jews perceived this brief armed conflict as a victory but also readied for another fight.

• The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the largest single revolt by Jews during WWII and one of the most heroic battles of the war, began on April 19, 1943 – the eve of Hitler’s 54th birthday (April 20) and also coinciding with the first evening of Passover, the Jewish holiday of freedom. The Jewish fighters received support from the Polish Underground, Armia Karjowa. It took the Nazis 27 days to put down the Uprising, after intensive fighting. 13,000 Jews were killed. On May 16 1943, the Ghetto was liquidated and the Great Synagogue on Tłomackie Square (outside the Ghetto) was symbolically destroyed. The German commanding general wrote to his superiors that “the Jewish residential quarter of Warsaw is no longer.”

• After the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, thousands of Jews were captured and shipped to concentration and death camps. Incinerated houses were razed and the Warsaw Concentration Camp complex was established to clean up the debris. Thousands more died or were executed in the ruins of the Ghetto, although several hundred survived there with assistance from Poles outside the Ghetto. Some were rescued in 1944 when Poles rose up against the Germans in a second Uprising as Soviet forces stood on the banks of the Vistula River; the Poles hoped for self-liberation and presumed that the Red Army would intervene. Instead, the Soviet troops waited and let the Poles weaken the Germans before being overwhelmed. The Nazis destroyed Warsaw and exiled its Polish population; only then did Soviet forces move in to fight German troops.

Historical Consultant: Dr. Michael Berenbaum

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